Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project

Responding to Patient Beliefs in Miracles

Authors: Robert D. Orr, MD, CM

Abstract

In situations of critical illness, when healthcare professionals have declared that survival or recovery is extremely unlikely, people of faith usually pray. They may pray for continued life, or they may pray for peaceful death. Not surprisingly, even people whose faith has lapsed often return to their old faith, hoping that God has not forgotten them and that their “foxhole prayers” will be heard and answered. In these situations, some even pray for a miracle. How is the healthcare professional to respond to earnest prayers for a miracle? Do doctors even believe in miracles?

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References

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