Should Doctors Pray with Patients During Crisis?
March 24, 2008 8:28 pm Crises, Miscellaneous
An article in today’s NY times about a doctor who offered to pray with a patient brought a variety of responses that covered the entire gamet from suggestions of taking his license away to nominating him for sainthood.
I thought about this because the use of prayer, religion or other spiritual practices has been a topic of many conversations by patients in my psychotherapy practice over the years. I usually say something like “if it helps you or brings you comfort its fine”. However, no one has ever asked me directly to pray with them. I can imagine this could happen especially during a crisis or emergency. As a matter of fact, it is a wonder I have avoided it so far. This article made me wonder what my answer would be to such a request.
As I have no objection to prayer (even do it myself) I imagine I could pray with a patient. However it goes so much against my training, it would make me uncomfortable, so what would I say? Well truthfully, I don’t know and I hope nobody ever asks. But just in case, I am practicing a few responses….. ” I would like to sit with you while you pray”, or “Why don’t we sit quietly together and each pray in our own way”.
I hope to avoid this issue, but if it does comes up I know I will do what feels right at the time. One thing I know for sure (this seems to be my answer to more and more things the older I get) is there is no right answer. Darn!
