(This blog was originally posted on August 30, 2011)
Olga Rukovets recently interviewed Dr. Karen Parko, a neurologist based
in San Francisco, in the July 21, 2011 issue of NEUROLOGY TODAY. Dr. Parko has worked with indigenous populations
in the United States for a large part of her career.
She found epilepsy to be more prevalent among
the Navajo in the Southwest than among other communities in the United States. Consequently,
she developed epilepsy sub-specialty clinics on the Navajo reservation. But the
reason for this increased affliction among the Navajo is unknown; it is the
basis for on-going research.
Similar
to the general population in the United States, epilepsy among the Navajo is
very common in children under five, and in the elderly (see “Age at Onset”
under the “Epilepsy Information” tab in my website: LanceFogan.com). Dr. Parko
says, “The prevalence of epilepsy in the Navajo is higher than it is in some
third world countries.”
The Navajo contend
that every medical problem has a definite cause—a spiritual transgression being
the usual suspect. This is a familiar theme in the long history of epilepsy in
different world cultures.
Anthropological
competence is necessary for practitioners who come from outside the Navajo
community. Spiritual beliefs must be recognized and understood if any modern
Western medical effort is to be accepted by the Navajo. Western practitioners
will find their efforts more successful if they respect the Navajo traditional
healers. Dr. Parko finds satisfaction that her impact as a single neurologist
is so much greater working among the Navajo than is her impact working with a
group of a hundred neurologists in a large university setting.
Lance Fogan, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at
UCLA. DINGS is his first novel.
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