WHEN EAST MEETS WEST Jovina Vang’s ToK Presentation

What are the problems of knowledge when it comes to miscommunications/misunderstandings between doctors and patients due to cultural differences? In these situations, do doctors know what is “best” for the patient?

The Story of Lia Lee At 3, she was diagnosed with epilepsy, also called “quag dab peg” according to the Hmong. Can be healed with “ua neeg?” Put into a foster home Suffered brain damage and in a vegetable state Now in parent’s care at home

Problems with Knowledge PERCEPTION: Lia’s parents: Lia has “quag dab peg” and “ua neeg” will cure her Doctors: Lia has epilepsy and needs medication to control it. They both do not know how each other perceive the situation and therefore, cannot communicate their differences. These different perspectives causes them to take divergent turns.

Problems with Knowledge LOGIC/REASONING: DOCTOR: 1) Parents stopped medication. 2) Stopping medication is not giving the medication properly. 3) Not giving medicine properly is child abuse. 4) Child abuse is illegal. 5) Parents have stopped medication and is doing something illegal. LIA’S PARENTS: 1) Lia has “quag dab peg.” 2) “Quag dab peg” can be healed with “ua neeg”. 3) “Ua neeg” heals and when healed, you do not need medication anymore. 4) Lia is healed with “ua neeg” and does not need medication anymore. They both have two different reasoning to the parents’ actions. This causes further miscommunication.

Problems with Knowledge LANGUAGE: Lia’s family could not speak English so they couldn’t communicate first-hand. Disadvantages of translator Doctors said that Lia will die. Hmong are offended because the only way to foretell someone’s death is to kill them yourself. Therefore, there was the conclusion that the doctors’ treatment of Lia is killing her.

Problems with Knowledge EMOTION: LIA’S PARENTS: After all the miscommunication in the problems of knowledge, Lia’s parents are offended and mad at the doctors. They view the doctors as incompetent. DOCTOR: After all the miscommunication in the problems of knowledge, the doctors are frustrated with Lia’s parents. They view Lia’s parents as bad parents.

The Story of Muhammad Kochi After Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, he’s found to be dying with gastric cancer. Doctors want chemotherapy and surgery. He believes Allah will heal him. He did not understand what chemotherapy entails. Kochi’s rejection of doctor’s help. Doctor’s assume such treatment was against his religion.

Problems with Knowledge LANGUAGE; Kochi could not speak English, so they had to communicate 2 nd hand. Doctors did not take patient’s perspective and did not explain procedures and what it entails clear enough, leading to misunderstandings and wrong assumptions. Doctors did not know the appropriate ways to speak about the problem.

Problems with Knowledge PERCEPTION: KOCHI: He made Hajj. Allah will bless him for this and take away the illness. He misunderstood and thought that if he had chemotherapy he couldn’t pray anymore. DOCTOR: Kochi needs chemotherapy and surgery to end his cancer. Because Kochi misunderstood and refused chemotherapy due to not being able to pray, doctors assumed it was against his religion. Their two different perspective causes them to take different and divergent path to determine what is best for Kochi.

Problems of Knowledge EMOTION: KOCHI: He is angered by the disrespect of the doctor to keep pushing him into chemotherapy although he does not want to. DOCTOR: He is frustrated trying to convince Kochi to do the “right” thing.

Do doctors know what is best for the patient in these situations? Doctors want to heal with science while Kochi and Lia’s parents wants to heal with spiritual power NO!

Argument Doctor Borgeson: Doctors that practice Western medicine are taught in medical school that figuring out the cause of the illness, which is always biological, is always their number one priority. Doctors have only 15 minutes to gather information on the patient’s medical history, diagnose the patient,and either give medication or come up with a treatment plan.  With such little time spent with patients, how can they make an accurate assessment so that they can treating the right problem? PROBLEM WITH KNOWLEDGE: A lack of the whole picture (the perception)

Counterclaim Dr. Illis Jones: Everything about the human body is biological. If there is something wrong, there is always a biological cause to it that can be cured. There is scientific proof to biological causes. There is no scientific proof about religion. There is no guarantee that religion will heal a person.

Rebuttal – The Placebo Effect A pill or process given with the intention of treating a medical disease, which has no specific biological or chemical activity against the condition.  When you are given a pill and informed it will heal you. You believe it and you do heal. However, the pill was a fraud and you healed because you believed you would. STORIES:  Dr. Stewart Wolf and the “strong” drug  John Merriman and the prayers

QUOTE: Dr. Robert Delap, head of Food and Drug Administration’s Offices of Drug Evaluation: The more you believe you are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that you will experience a benefit.

Placebo Faith can heal Religion is faith. Therefore, when Kochi was depending on Allah and Lia’s parents were depending on ceremonial “ua neeg,” they were changing state of mind and using faith to heal. One can argue this is better because there is less dependency on medicine (addiction) and it does not just heal physically, but also spiritually.

Argument Doctors taught medicine are the only legitimate solution. Western medicine is a CULTURE itself! It is the best, but only from the doctor’s scientific lenses. (Knowledge problem  perception) Culture Vs Culture situation with doctors, Lia’s parents and Kochi. However, Western medicine wins because it dominates in the US and more widely supported. (Problem with knowledge  Logic)

Counterargument Tala Montoya, a long time nurse instructor, said, “Regardless of how culturally sensitive a doctor or nurse is trained to be, there are laws and values that are supported by the people who practices Western medicine in the United States.”

Rebuttal PROBLEM WITH CLAIM: How can you claim that one culture is correct and another is wrong? Or one is better than the other?

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST Can Biology and Religion join hands to create a greater source of healing?