1. How did you feel when Child Protective Services took Lia away from her parents? Do you believe it was the right decision? Was any other solution possible in the situation?
I felt very bad for the Lee's when Lia was taken away from them. I know I wouldn't want to be taken away from my parents or have a child taken away from me. I believe that both sides thought they were doing the right thing. The Lee's thought they were doing the right thing by not giving her the medication and the doctors thought they were doing the right thing by reporting it to Child Protective Services.It was a bad situation no matter how you look at it.
I have mixed emotions about if it was the right decision to take Lia away.A part of me thinks it was the right decision because the Lee's couldn't provide for her medically the way the doctors advised them to do so. The other part of me thinks it wasn't the right decision because they weren't intentionally hurting Lia. They only thought they were doing what was best for her. Because Lia was taken away from them they were able to learn how to properly administer her medication.
I believe there were things that both sides could do to make it easier for Lia. The Lee's could have been more willing to follow the doctor’s orders and the doctors could have made sure they understood what was going on. They could have provided a better interpreter or a home health aide to properly show them how to administer her medication. That way Lia wouldn't have to be taken away and they would still be giving herthe medication. However, even though Lia was taken away from them it all worked out in the end.
2. Were you surprised at the quality of care and the love and affection given to Lia by her foster parents? How did Lia's foster parents feel about Lia's biological parents? Was foster care ultimately to Lia's benefit or detriment?
I was actually very surprised at the quality of care and the love and affection given to Lia by her foster parents. I don't know any foster parents or anyonewho came from a foster family, so I thought it was very admirable of the Korda's to take Lia in. They had no hesitation even after finding out she had epilepsy. Another thing I admired about the Korda's was that they took care of Lia just as the Lee's did. Dee carried her on her back and they allowed her to sleep in the same bed as them. Having a child in Lia's condition would be very challenging, but the Korda's were very courageous and willing to deal with any obstacles that came their way.
The Korda's really liked Lia's parents. Dee specifically stated that she loved Foua and Nao Kao. They also allowed them to come to their house and the Korda's daughter developed a friendship with the Lee's older daughter. They even allowed Foua to stay at their house to watch the other children while they took Lia to her doctor's appointments. I believe that by allowing the Lee's into their lives and Lia's, it made the process easier for both them and Lia. Even though Lia cried every time they had to leave, she still knew that they loved her and wanted to be with her.
I truly believe that the Lee's thought they were doing what was best for Lia, however the language barrier really made itmore difficultfor her. Therefore, I believe the foster care led to her benefit and her parents. Even though Lia's condition stayed about the same while she was in foster care, it allowed Foua and Nao Kao to learn the proper way of how and when to administer her medication. They lost a year of spending every minute with Lia, but it ultimately led to them spending more time with her in the end because they learned the proper way to care for her.
3. What does Dan Murphy mean by, "When you fail one Hmong patient, you fail the whole community" (p. 253)?
In the Hmong culture, they are very close-knit especially within their clans. When one Hmong clan knows about something or have a certain view about something, the other ones will as well. Everyone in the Lee and Yang clans knew about Lia's condition and formed prejudices about MCMC because they thought the hospital was making Lia's condition worse instead of better. If the Lee's hadn't been in that situation and another clan was, they would feel the same way. They would agree that a Hmong had been failed. The Hmong are so set in their ways that nothing is going to change their minds. They believe that their healing rituals are the only way and nothing is going to make them feel differently. They will stick together no matter what. The Lee's felt that MCMC failed Lia therefore the rest of the Hmong community agreed as well. The Hmong have been through a lot together especially with the war and the move to the U.S. therefore making them even closer. They have stuck together through a lot of hard times and are going to continue to do so. Furthermore, they feel that they have to stick together and support one another because they are the minority in the U.S. and feel less superior to Americans.
4. How did the EMT's and the doctors respond to what Neil referred to as Lia’s "big one"? Do you think they performed as well as they could have under the circumstances?
In my opinion the EMT's and doctors did what they were trained to do. Even though the Lee's thought differently, I truly believe they were trying to do what was best for Lia. The Lee's thought they could receive better and faster treatment if they called an ambulance, but they actually wasted at least 20 minutes when they could have run her to the hospital as they usually did. Because Lia's condition was so bad that time, I believe the hospitalwould have treated her immediately, contrary to what the Lee's believed.
Once Lia was at the hospital the nurses and emergency physician tried their best to get an IV started, which took 20 minutes and Neil wasn't even paged until after all this happened. I believe Neil should have been paged as soon as Lia arrived at the hospital because it took him 10 minutes to get there, which more time was lost. Even though Neil was very frantic, I believe he handled the situation very good. He worked and worked on Lia until she was stable. It was very upsetting for him because he never wanted to be in that situation.
Overall, I believe everyone performed the best they knew how. However, one thing that they didn't do was check Lia's temperature which started her seizures in the first place. I believe that everyone was so frantic that they didn't even think about checking her temperature. They were just worried about getting Lia stable so she wouldn't die.