In India, I doubt that medico with faith in God would keep it aside when he/she enters the hospital; faith would be part of his/her being

The following note is based on my comments made elsewhere.

Those who attribute all to God and none to medical staff in cases of successful critical surgery, I think, are having very unbalanced and wrong views. Medical staff would typically be very deserving of significant credit for such success. But there is nothing wrong in theist patients thanking God too for the success.

I don't know if all persons in a typical medical team in an Indian hospital would be atheists but one should not be surprised if one finds that some in the medical team which includes nurses who tend to have more regular care-giving interactions with the patient, are theists. Medical people see life and death at close quarters and I have read that sometimes some medicos pray to God when they are working on a critical case. Whether such prayers help or not (or worse hurt), I think, is difficult to prove scientifically.

I have read about many medical staff including cardiac surgeons who pray to God and have publicly said (their view NOT scientifically proven fact) that such prayers and their faith in God in general have helped them succeed in critical cases.

I think the key here is to NOT go overboard one way or the other. If a patient and/or a medico does not have faith and works only with scientific medical knowledge - fine. But if a patient and/or a medico has faith in God and prays to God for success in medical treatment, without compromising on scientific medical knowledge, that is fine too.
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In a typical medical team in a hospital in India, I would not be surprised if theists are the majority! India is a land of deep religious faith.

And serving patients as a way of serving God is a powerful form of devotional offering to God, across religions including Hinduism and Christianity.
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Faith in God is not a dress that one wears when one is at a place of religious worship and takes it off once one leaves that place. It is part of one's being.

So I doubt if faith in God (and any associated religious leanings) would go out of the door once a medical staff member who is of faith in God, enters a hospital.

But I think it is difficult to prove this scientifically, one way or the other.

Comments

  1. Well said... Need this type of article in present scenario of India where people are ready to beat doctors.

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