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Patients who pray: faith, placebo, and respect at the bedside

Omar Ragab Fellow
· 2 replies
Faith & reason#medical-ethics#prayer
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Many of the patients at my hospital pray. Some ask the staff to pray with them. Some refuse treatment until they've consulted a sheikh, or a priest. Some say their recovery is entirely God's will and the doctor's role is incidental.

There have been studies of intercessory prayer. The large STEP trial, published in 2006, found no benefit for cardiac surgery patients who were prayed for, and slightly more complications in those who knew they were being prayed for. But that's not what our patients mean by prayer. They mean a relationship, not a treatment.

I'm a believer myself. What I struggle with is how the hospital can respect patients' faith while also giving the medical advice its doctors are obliged to give. Where is the line between respecting belief and endorsing something that might harm them?

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2 replies

  1. Elin Hedqvist

    Fellow

    The best staff I've worked with ask open questions: "What does your faith say about this?" Often the person's faith doesn't actually forbid treatment, they just haven't connected the two. When it does, I find respecting their framework while being honest about the risk works better than arguing.

    Helpful · 2
  2. Arjun Iyer

    Fellow

    In India many patients combine medicine with prayer, astrology and ayurveda without seeing any contradiction. The doctors who get the best adherence are the ones who don't ridicule the prayers. Respecting belief can be a way of keeping patients on treatment.

    Helpful · 3