August 19, 2008
god and doctors
57% of adult Americans believe prayer can revive the dying.
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.
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“Waiting for a miracle.” That must be why the emergency rooms are always so full.
But they’re going to a better place, right?
Maybe. Or maybe they’re going to become animated sea creatures performing a poor arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue in a very dark plug for United Airlines.