Do Doctors Eat Brains?

This is one of many misperceptions Lia Lee's parents have about the American medical system in this year's GO Conference book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman. Things were so much clearer at home in Laos, when they could go to the local shaman. Shamans were polite and spent hours with the family, while American doctors ask rude and intimate questions and spend only minutes. Shamans knew immediately what spirit was to blame for an illness, while doctors demand payments of blood or urine, stall for days, and even then don't always know what the problem is. When their young daughter, Lia, has frequent seizures, the Lees' clashes with the medical community leave them baffled, horrified, and increasingly distrustful, while the doctors fight against what looks to them like the Lees' stubborn and backward refusal to follow advice that is crucial to their child's health.

From a global outreach perspective, the book raises some interesting questions. How can you look past the emotions, interests, and biases of your own culture to understand another one? The doctors were "right" from a scientific point of view, but they nevertheless had cultural biases that prevented them from recognizing the intense and sacrificial love that Lia's parents had for her. How do our medical workers in other countries reach past this barrier to bring not only physical healing, but spiritual truth? At our mini-conference on Saturday, November 13, we will host a lively discussion on this book and the questions it raises, led by our partner Matt Megill, who has experience working in medical ministry across cultural and language barriers. Read the book and come join us!

--David Walton