The medical biographical novel "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall" by Anne Fadiman is a magnificent time capsule of the experiences faced by the Hmong people during their migration to America. As entertaining as the novel was from a literary perspective, the novel depicted many deeply demanding attributes of the American healthcare system and social service arena of that time period. Although this novel describes the journey of a people's immigration to America, this story is really about the experiences of many migrant populations in the United States. As a social worker, I felt uncomfortable whenever the book discussed moments when a member of the healthcare profession, including the social worker at the time, attempted to speak to Lee in English, clearly understanding that they were not proficient in the language. and they were unable to understand what was happening to their child. I also felt uneasy: I was only six pages into the novel when I ran into my first ethical dilemma with the health and social care services rendered to the Lees. The Lees were asked to sign documents in English when all hospital workers were aware that they did not speak English and were unable to determine the level of English that Mr. or Mrs. Lee could read or write. Although there was no specific federal law on cultural competence when Lia Lee was born in MCMC Hospital in 1982, the hospital was aware of the need for Hmong language translators in their hospital. MCMC stated in the novel that it attempted to hire Hmong personnel as janitors to translate on some occasions, which in itself is against the social services code of