Her own leap of faith

Neither my resentful tenure in Sunday school as a teen nor my secular scientific training in college and medical school had provided me with guidelines for how to respond to the beliefs of my patients and their families. Though I no longer paid credence to a God who, actively or passively, allowed the suffering of so many innocents, I could not deny the comforting role that faith played in the lives of those I sought to help. Science demanded that I give the parents the observable facts about their son's condition -- but humanity demanded that I support their means of solace and hope.

I stayed by the baby's bedside through the night, listening to the parents' prayers and helping soothe their tears. Their child passed away before dawn, a victim of an aggressive and untreatable viral infection that had caused myocarditis, destructive inflammation of the heart muscle. Neither the prayers nor the medical care available in the late '70s could save the boy's life.

Today, scientific research and experimentation have increased the chances of survival and reduced the risks of permanent heart failure in patients with myocarditis. Echocardiography, immunosuppressive medications, drugs that improve cardiac and circulatory function, pacemakers and heart transplants all can improve the prognosis for this rare condition.

And what about prayer -- can it play any role in our patients' prognoses? Research has shown that those who actively practice a religion may see some personal health benefits, perhaps because of social support and reduced risk factors for poor health due to religiously guided lifestyle choices. A study in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine explored the relationship between a doctor's own religious and spiritual perspective and his or her perception of religion's influence on health. A majority of the doctors surveyed believed that religion and spirituality do have a positive effect on health, but more as a source of hope, consolation and support rather than as a pragmatic medical "cure." Unsurprisingly, the more religious physicians were most likely to ascribe significant health benefits to devout patients from the practice of their faith.

In my own experience, I have witnessed prayer to be a gift of comfort for my religious patients and families, especially when they are facing critical illness and death. Though I practice only scientific medicine, I feel a strong obligation to support, and occasionally participate in, the expressions of faith in the manner and form my patients and their families request -- for their sake.

In the last month of my internship, I was called to the maternity ward to do a routine clearance of a newborn for discharge from the hospital. I was surprised to see the parents who had suffered such a tragic loss only 11 months before. God had answered their prayers, they averred, and they were blessed with a new son. I was pleased to confirm the boy seemed healthy, and I was happy to once again hold hands with the couple as they expressed gratitude to God for the resurrection of their family.

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Dr. Linda Reid Chassiakos is director of the Klotz Student Health Center at Cal State Northridge and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA.