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“[The doctor] was really mean. She came in and she said that Lia was going to die and then she took out all the rubber stuff and she said Lia’s brain is all rotted and she is going to die. [The doctor] wanted to give Lia’s medicine to someone else (Fadiman, pg.151).”
- These were the words of a Hmong mother whose child was taken off life support. The doctor was only following the orders she understood the family had agreed to– to cease all life-sustaining measures so Lia, their daughter, could die naturally.
This is just one example of how miscommunication between cultures can have devastating effects. The health care market place, like the rest of the world, is becoming more global every day. Health care providers need to be effective in verbal and written communication with those from other cultures now more than ever before. The content in this module is a general body of cultural health care knowledge. Therefore, it is recommended that you learn the cultural specifics of caring for those patients and clients that you see most often in your setting.
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