there is an enormous body of anecdotal “evidence” to the contrary that I’m not prepared to simply dismiss summarily.

I do dismiss it. Any consideration I give to the supernatural is either for entertainment purposes or as an exercise in pedantry.

One of the many reasons I do so is things like this. I’ve only recently seen that article, but I’ve heard about the ideas referenced there many times, and experienced some of them myself. People just aren’t that reliable; that’s why the scientific method had to be invented.

By the way, I got the link from the Ecstathy blog.

Incidentally, Jain was also a co-investigator on the largest study to date on the effect of intercessory prayer, finding “that being prayed for did not improve outcomes, and it seemed to have a negative effect when patients knew they were the subject of prayers from afar.”

I think I’ve mentioned this here before – in the nineties, Larry Dossey claimed to have done a meta-study of experiments dealing with prayer and the healing process – supposedly there was something on the order of 140 or so at the time – and he claimed that there was a positive correlation. This became the basis of his next three books. Now, this study comes along and seems to debunk that.

Although I’m an atheist, I’m not committed to radical materialism. If it turns out that the materialists are correct, I won’t be at all surprised; however, there is an enormous body of anecdotal “evidence” to the contrary that I’m not prepared to simply dismiss summarily.

So now I don’t know what to think.

For outpatients, I try to remember to ask patients who are going through difficult times, whether it’s due to health or something else, whether religion or spirituality is or has been a source of support for them. Clearly, people often find comfort in religion, especially in difficult times. I have done things like search online in the exam room to help a patient locate a church of their preferred denomination, or a counselor who identifies as being of the same religion.

But: I wouldn’t pray with a patient, or pretend to pray with a patient. I think I’ve said, on the few occasions when a patient or family member directly asked me to pray with them, that I don’t pray. It seems OK to me to do the passive pretend-to-go-along-with-grace thing at the dinner table, but not OK to pretend to go along with prayer for someone who is vulnerable & seeking a type of support & reassurance that I am not going to be able to truthfully provide. (And, which I’m pretty sure I’d fake really badly, and awkwardly.)

Most awkward thing for me is long-time patients in my primary care practice who assume I must be Christian, without ever asking. I haven’t figured out how to dispel their impression, in a way that feels like it’s not in-their-face & also which points out that I’m still the same person. (These are people for whom a red A or an FSM pin on my lapel wouldn’t serve as a hint.)

Now that I am thinking about it… my dentist is a Christian. He has some Christian/tooth-themed crap in his office. But he certainly never prayed in front of me.

To me it seems to be an invasion of the privacy of either party, and highly likely to interfere with the professional relationship. I’d no more expect it than I’d expect the cable technician to pray with me over the junction box.

I have been in religious hospitals where the hospital offers patients a visit from someone (not a medical practitioner) who will pray with them and offer religious counsel (which you’re entirely free to take up or not take up), but even there, there was never any suggestion that the medical staff could be involved.

Is this sort of weirdness common in the US?

Fortunately, I’m in no danger of the offer of a prayer session with my GP. He’s an atheist.

I think I could pray (using a generic prayer) or do a meditation exercise at a critical moment with my patient. At times, if this is uncomfortable or if there is not enough time, I could simply encourage the spiritual part of patients’ lives.

I think that’s a good approach

When they’ve invited me to pray with them, my response is “this kind of prayer isn’t really my tradition.” (A very devout client under great stress does not need to suddenly learn that her lawyer is an atheist.) Once I had someone insist on going forward with the prayer anyway — it was right before the first day of trial, and she grabbed my hands in the courthouse hallway and made a rambling speech imploring Jesus to come to her aid and to help me and the judge show the jury “the truth.”

There were no jurors around, so I just let her do her thing and didn’t protest.

We reached a settlement with the other side later that day, by the way. Jesus didn’t have nearly as much to do with it so much as the judge’s rulings on preliminary motions about what evidence would be considered by the jury.

Point is, I think I did the right thing by letting my client pray the way she wanted to in a time she was feeling a lot of emotional stress, even though I did not share her belief. I think a doctor should do something similar in an analagous situation.

I think doctors should be aware of what religion (if any) their patients are, so that they can reduce the likelihood of offending and/or scaring them with the wrong comment.