applied medical anthropologists are criticized for:
being too conservative and timid
not making noteworthy changes
afraid of insulting their medical colleagues and are helping doctors gain and maintain control over patients
treat health problems as individual and not social problems
2. critical medical anthropologists confront medical teachers, researchers, and practitioners with evidence of the political and economic interests in biomedicine
Critical Medical Anthropologists can be seen working with: labor unions, ethnic community organizations, victims of HIV/AIDS, health consumer groups, self help and self care groups, as well as those with health problems related to pollution, occupational hazards, and poor living conditions
Was critical medical anthropology used in the Lia Lee case?
Critical medical anthropology was not apparent in the Lee case. Nao Kao and Foua battled the US medical system while trying to care for their sick child, LIa. It was the Lee's vs. Neil & Peggy, not enough help and no hope of winning. The Lees (and the Hmong)faced bias, riddicule, and poverty. The problems the Lee family faced, both in the communities and the medical system, were not isolated just to them, they were social problems that existed among the entire Hmong community living in Merced (and perhaps the United States as a whole). With the influx of Hmong coming into Merced, California, a critical medical anthropologist could have helped build strong advocates for them in this strange, new land of the free. If a system were in place to advocate for the Lee family, I believe the outcome would have been drastically different.