Global Health Systems 1st Edition by Margie Lovett Scott ,Faith Prather

Exercise 39

Ming, a 90-year-old, Asian female, accompanied by her 65-year-old daughter, presents to the emergency department with complaints of nausea, projectile vomiting for several hours, and constipation for two weeks. She speaks only Chinese but the daughter is fluent in Chinese and English. The patient complains that her body has been out of balance for several weeks. She feared she
would become very ill when none of her normal remedies restored her balance.
A CT scan of the abdomen reveals a major bowel obstruction. The surgeon informs the patient, with the daughter translating, that she will need immediate surgery. The daughter translates this to her mother who consents to the surgery and willingly signs the permission form. Within a half hour the patient's 68-year-old son arrives in the emergency department, speaks with his mother and sister, and the patient changes her mind about the surgery. The surgeon (European American) returns to speak with the family and attempts to convince them that without the surgery their mother will get sicker and eventually die. The family still refuses. They leave the hospital against medical advice.
What does the patient attribute to her illness?