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Steven L.
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 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:58 pm Post subject: Poll: Most Americans Trust God To Cure Illness |
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Study: Many Americans Believe God More Powerful at Saving Lives Than Doctors
Monday , August 18, 2008
AP
When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans.
An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention
can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be
prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle."
More than half of randomly surveyed adults -- 57 percent -- said God's
intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared
treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have
a right to demand such treatment.
When asked to imagine their own relatives being gravely ill or injured,
nearly 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could
reverse a hopeless outcome.
"Sensitivity to this belief will promote development of a trusting
relationship" with patients and their families, according to
researchers. That trust, they said, is needed to help doctors explain
objective, overwhelming scientific evidence showing that continued
treatment would be worthless.
Pat Loder, a Milford, Mich., woman whose two young children were killed
in a 1991 car crash, said she clung to a belief that God would intervene
when things looked hopeless.
"When you're a parent and you're standing over the body of your child
who you think is dying ... you have to have that" belief, Loder said.
While doctors should be prepared to deal with those beliefs, they also
shouldn't "sugarcoat" the truth about a patient's condition, Loder said.
Being honest in a sensitive way helps family members make excruciating
decisions about whether to let dying patients linger, or allow doctors
to turn off life-prolonging equipment so that organs can be donated,
Loder said.
Loder was driving when a speeding motorcycle slammed into the family's
car. Both children were rushed unconscious to hospitals, and Loder says
she believes doctors did everything they could. They were not able to
revive her 5-year-old son; soon after her 8-year-old daughter was
declared brain dead.
She said her beliefs about divine intervention have changed.
"I have become more of a realist," she said. "I know that none of us are
immune from anything."
Loder was not involved in the survey, which appears in Monday's Archives
of Surgery.
It involved 1,000 U.S. adults randomly selected to answer questions by
telephone about their views on end-of-life medical care. They were
surveyed in 2005, along with 774 doctors, nurses and other medical
workers who responded to mailed questions.
Survey questions mostly dealt with untimely deaths from trauma such as
accidents and violence. These deaths are often particularly tough on
relatives because they are more unexpected than deaths from lingering
illnesses such as cancer, and the patients tend to be younger.
Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, a University of Connecticut surgery professor and
trauma chief at Hartford Hospital, was the lead author.
He said trauma treatment advances have allowed patients who previously
would have died at the scene to survive longer. That shift means
hospital trauma specialists "are much more heavily engaged in the death
process," he said.
Jacobs said he frequently meets people who think God will save their
dying loved one and who want medical procedures to continue.
"You can't say, 'That's nonsense.' You have to respect that" and try to
show them X-rays, CAT scans and other medical evidence indicating death
is imminent, he said.
Relatives need to know that "it's not that you don't want a miracle to
happen, it's just that is not going to happen today with this patient,"
he said.
Families occasionally persist and hospitals have gone to court seeking
to stop medical treatment doctors believe is futile, but such cases are
quite rare.
Dr. Michael Sise, trauma medical director at Scripps Mercy Hospital in
San Diego, called the study "a great contribution" to one of the most
intense issues doctors face.
Sise, a Catholic doctor working in a Catholic hospital, said miracles
don't happen when medical evidence shows death is near.
"That's just not a realistic situation," he said.
Sise recalled a teenager severely injured in a gang beating who died
soon afterward at his hospital.
The mother "absolutely did not want to withdraw" medical equipment
despite the severity of her child's brain injuries, which ensured she
would never wake up, Sise said. "The mom was playing religious tapes in
the room, and obviously was very focused on looking for a miracle."
Claudia McCormick, a nurse and trauma program director at Duke
University Hospital, said she also has never seen that kind of miracle.
But her niece's recovery after being hit by a boat while inner-tubing
earlier this year came close.
The boat backed into her and its propeller "caught her in the side of
the head. She had no pulse when they pulled her out of the water,"
McCormick said.
Doctors at the hospital where she was airlifted said "it really doesn't
look good." And while it never reached the point where withdrawing
lifesaving equipment was discussed, McCormick recalled one of her
doctors saying later: '"God has plans for this child. I never thought
she'd be here."'
Like many hospitals, Duke uses a team approach to help relatives deal
with dying trauma victims, enlisting social workers, grief counselors
and chaplains to work with doctors and nurses.
If the family still says, "We just can't shut that machine off, then,
you know what, we can't shut that machine off," McCormick said.
"Sometimes," she said, "you might have a family that's having a hard
time and it might take another day, and that's OK."
--
Steven L.
Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. |
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Bill M
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:29 am Post subject: Re: Most Americans Trust God To Cure Illness |
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57% fo people do not deal with 'reality'. They would rather calm their
fears with dreams.
"Steven L." <sdlitvin@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:s_WdnRrPXeae0jbVnZ2dnUVZ_rrinZ2d@earthlink.com...
| Quote: | Study: Many Americans Believe God More Powerful at Saving Lives Than
Doctors
Monday , August 18, 2008
AP
When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans.
An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention
can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be
prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle."
More than half of randomly surveyed adults -- 57 percent -- said God's
intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared
treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a
right to demand such treatment.
When asked to imagine their own relatives being gravely ill or injured,
nearly 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could
reverse a hopeless outcome.
"Sensitivity to this belief will promote development of a trusting
relationship" with patients and their families, according to researchers.
That trust, they said, is needed to help doctors explain objective,
overwhelming scientific evidence showing that continued treatment would be
worthless.
Pat Loder, a Milford, Mich., woman whose two young children were killed in
a 1991 car crash, said she clung to a belief that God would intervene when
things looked hopeless.
"When you're a parent and you're standing over the body of your child who
you think is dying ... you have to have that" belief, Loder said.
While doctors should be prepared to deal with those beliefs, they also
shouldn't "sugarcoat" the truth about a patient's condition, Loder said.
Being honest in a sensitive way helps family members make excruciating
decisions about whether to let dying patients linger, or allow doctors to
turn off life-prolonging equipment so that organs can be donated, Loder
said.
Loder was driving when a speeding motorcycle slammed into the family's
car. Both children were rushed unconscious to hospitals, and Loder says
she believes doctors did everything they could. They were not able to
revive her 5-year-old son; soon after her 8-year-old daughter was declared
brain dead.
She said her beliefs about divine intervention have changed.
"I have become more of a realist," she said. "I know that none of us are
immune from anything."
Loder was not involved in the survey, which appears in Monday's Archives
of Surgery.
It involved 1,000 U.S. adults randomly selected to answer questions by
telephone about their views on end-of-life medical care. They were
surveyed in 2005, along with 774 doctors, nurses and other medical workers
who responded to mailed questions.
Survey questions mostly dealt with untimely deaths from trauma such as
accidents and violence. These deaths are often particularly tough on
relatives because they are more unexpected than deaths from lingering
illnesses such as cancer, and the patients tend to be younger.
Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, a University of Connecticut surgery professor and
trauma chief at Hartford Hospital, was the lead author.
He said trauma treatment advances have allowed patients who previously
would have died at the scene to survive longer. That shift means hospital
trauma specialists "are much more heavily engaged in the death process,"
he said.
Jacobs said he frequently meets people who think God will save their dying
loved one and who want medical procedures to continue.
"You can't say, 'That's nonsense.' You have to respect that" and try to
show them X-rays, CAT scans and other medical evidence indicating death is
imminent, he said.
Relatives need to know that "it's not that you don't want a miracle to
happen, it's just that is not going to happen today with this patient," he
said.
Families occasionally persist and hospitals have gone to court seeking to
stop medical treatment doctors believe is futile, but such cases are quite
rare.
Dr. Michael Sise, trauma medical director at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San
Diego, called the study "a great contribution" to one of the most intense
issues doctors face.
Sise, a Catholic doctor working in a Catholic hospital, said miracles
don't happen when medical evidence shows death is near.
"That's just not a realistic situation," he said.
Sise recalled a teenager severely injured in a gang beating who died soon
afterward at his hospital.
The mother "absolutely did not want to withdraw" medical equipment despite
the severity of her child's brain injuries, which ensured she would never
wake up, Sise said. "The mom was playing religious tapes in the room, and
obviously was very focused on looking for a miracle."
Claudia McCormick, a nurse and trauma program director at Duke University
Hospital, said she also has never seen that kind of miracle. But her
niece's recovery after being hit by a boat while inner-tubing earlier this
year came close.
The boat backed into her and its propeller "caught her in the side of the
head. She had no pulse when they pulled her out of the water," McCormick
said.
Doctors at the hospital where she was airlifted said "it really doesn't
look good." And while it never reached the point where withdrawing
lifesaving equipment was discussed, McCormick recalled one of her doctors
saying later: '"God has plans for this child. I never thought she'd be
here."'
Like many hospitals, Duke uses a team approach to help relatives deal with
dying trauma victims, enlisting social workers, grief counselors and
chaplains to work with doctors and nurses.
If the family still says, "We just can't shut that machine off, then, you
know what, we can't shut that machine off," McCormick said.
"Sometimes," she said, "you might have a family that's having a hard time
and it might take another day, and that's OK."
--
Steven L.
Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. |
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