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Since they spoke no
English, they could not tell the doctors of her seizures, and the only residual physical
evidence of her illness was a respiratory infection. The diagnosis of epilepsy was not
made for another five months, when her parents brought her to the ER while still in a
seizure, after which she was hospitalized and started on anticonvulsive medications.
Lia’s parents believed that the seizures occurred because she had lost her soul and the
condition was best healed by appeasement of the soul through animal sacrifice and
treatment by a shaman. In the Hmong culture, epileptics often become shamans as adults, so
her parents felt a special pride. They did not give Lia the medications prescribed by her
physicians because they believed that the drugs did more harm than good. The
conflicting cultures resulted in a great misunderstanding over many subsequent hospital
admissions. Her seizures continued despite many changes of medication until at 4 years of
age she suffered a violent seizure that left her in status epilepticus, a state of
continued or recurrent seizure. When she entered a permanent vegetative state following an
episode of septic shock, her parents believed her to be cured. |
