In this passage, Fadiman once again sketches out the Hmong belief that everything is related. This belief constitutes one of the starkest differences between the Hmong and American medical approaches, since in the United States “the practice of medicine has fissioned into smaller and smaller subspecialties.” This idea recalls the notion that American doctors often have trouble remembering to connect with their patients on a human level, since they’ve been trained to focus all their attention on specific bodily ailments. When Fadiman says, “The Hmong carried holism to its ultima Thule,” she is restating the fact that their culture prizes…