Jeanine Hilt Character Analysis

A social worker who works closely with Lia and the Lee family. Jeanine takes thorough notes about Lia’s circumstances, notes that Fadiman draws upon extensively to illustrate the specifics of the young girl’s story. Although Jeanine works for the government, she manages to establish a connection with Nao Kao and Foua, cementing herself in their lives as a helpful resource and ally rather than as the representative of antagonistic government forces. She is one of the only people to actually ask the Lees what they think caused their daughter’s illness. At the same time, she has a duty to carry out her job and is obligated to report the Lees’ failure to properly administer Lia’s medication and other practices considered detrimental to the young girl’s wellbeing. Child Protective Services assigns Jeanine to be the caseworker when Lia is taken away from her parents to live with Dee and Tom Korda. Later, when Lia returns home and is eventually hospitalized at Valley Children’s Hospital in Fresno, Jeanine acts as a liaison between the family and the hospital staff. Years later, Jeanine has a severe asthma attack and dies of oxygen deprivation—the same medical condition that causes Lia to enter a permanent nonresponsive state.