L48 Anthro 3283 Chapter 13: Fadiman Ch. 13 (171-180)
Fadiman Ch. 13 (p. 171-180)
• In Laos, the Lee’s lost 3 kids in 3 years; dodged bullets, land mines and walls of fire; left
their village and country behind, knowing they would never see them again
o How could anything, even Lia’s illness be worse than that?
o Violence, death, starvation were all bad tragedies, but Lia’s was outside the
sphere
• After 11 days at ICU at VCH, Lia transferred to MCMC by ambulance on Dec. 5, 1986;
examined by Dave Schneider, 2nd year resident
• Dave said that she withdrew from painful stimuli; said patients tell him to go to hell after
that, but Lia didn’t; he said she probably wished she could
• Took Neil 3 days, walking pat her room some many times, to bring himself to look at her;
she dominated his professional life and private thoughts for many years
• Neil and Peggy would use humor slang when in times of extreme stress
o Said she was in a vegetative state
• Shaman came into room to preform a ceremony
• Foua preferred to take care of daughter herself; did some basic things that nurses would
have done instead
• Her room was always crowded with family; kind of loud; some nurses were sympathetic,
some got annoyed
• Lia’s second day back at MCMC, her dad demanded that her subclavian line be removed
and all her medications discontinued;
o They understood that a new line would not be put in and that withdrawing meds
could make her infection come sooner and die sooner
o They still refused medication and they were both withdrawn
o Peggy understood it as them wanting Lia to be peaceful and not be persecuted
anymore; wanted her to die with dignity; thought they were artificially prolonging
her life
• Peggy said she was sure she was dying, but Western medicine just doesn’t let people die
• Dec. 9, Jeanie and Peggy arranged home nursing visits for Lia and all the necessary
supplies; instructions and everything
• Foua didn’t understand the instructions, and had no intentions of giving Lia medicines or
anything through a tube; but still signed the paper
• Dad said they weren’t fixing her; that they were keeping her in the hospital to die, so I
might as well bring her home; is this a hospital that fixes people or makes them die?
o He found it the most offensive of all the times she would be told to die
o Hmong moral code, foretelling a death is a taboo; a doctor should never say the
person was going to die; in Laos it means you are going to kill the person
o Lees perceived it as a threat; thought they were saying she should die
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