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 2nd 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?