The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Chapter 6 Summary

High-Velocity Transcortical Lead Therapy

  • The Hmong spent a lot of time talking about life in America while they were in refugee camps in Thailand. We bet they didn't use the title of this chapter, though.
  • Still, sometimes these conversations border on the silly, like the frequent claim that ghosts and dinosaurs run amok in the U.S. of A. But these reveal a very real fear of being forced to change their traditional way of life.
  • Nowhere is this fear more prevalent than where medicine is concerned. And we're not just talking ghost and dino medicine. To the Hmong, doctors seem like shady psychos who love nothing more than to "experiment on their patients" (6.13).
  • This is particularly ironic because most of the doctors at MCMC (and in Thailand, for that matter) are only there for "altruistic reasons" (6.4). They could make a lot more money working at a private practice for wealthy customers or somewhere doing actual experiments.
  • Most of the doctors at MCMC hadn't even heard the word Hmong before refugees started pouring into the city. Though they've learned much more in the decade-plus since, they still don't fully understand—and in some cases, even like—the Hmong.
  • The one thing that every Hmong-American always visits the doctor for is childbirth. That might be because of the rampant belief that kids born at home aren't citizens. Which could mean that the ghosts or tyrannosaurs could get 'em. But still.