Chapters 15-19:
- Lia continued to defy doctors expectations as she grew older. Her epilepsy subsided and she remained a healthy weight. In the years following her massive seizure and near death experience, Lia spent almost 24 hours per day with her Mother. Foua believed that if she was always with Lia, the foster system could not come take her. Once believed to be child abusers who could not care for their child, Lia’s parents were now considered exemplary care givers in the eyes of the MCMC staff.
- This final section also looks at the American public’s opinion of the Hmong people in the US. Many Americans resented their presence. They essentially refused to assimilate, and they were incredibly expensive to the tax payer.
- As Lia’s life continued, much of the MCMC staff felt that the Lee family was ungrateful for all of the free care they had received over the years. Peggy and Neil did not feel this way. They had garnered a better understanding of Hmong culture, and they had developed a deep bond with the family.
- At this point in the book, Fadiman turned her discussion towards what might have helped Lia’s medical journey. Although much of the discussion is directed at the major seizure episode and septic shock that ultimately caused Lia’s death, she also talks about how better interpreters, flexibility of providers, more social workers to decrease the cultural barriers, or if the Lees had simply given Lia the medication as was determined by the doctors at MCMC.
- Fadiman makes it very clear that Lia’s passing was not the fault of the doctors and was not the fault of the family. Massive cross-cultural differences were to blame. Merced now uses cross-cultural diversity training to teach their healthcare providers and MCMC published health education programming on the Hmong TV channel.
- The book concludes with a detailed description of the ceremony performed by a tvix neeb to bring Lia’s soul home. The ceremony involved two pigs and a chicken. Lia passed away in 2012. While most people in a vegitative state die after around 5 years, Lia remained alive for 25 years. The diligent and painstaking care given to her by her family kept Lia alive well past the expected time.