Question

[flea]

"In the event of serious illness, do you wish the doctor to pray with you?" as a question on basic starting paperwork at a pediatrician's office: red flag, or to be taken for granted when one lives in the Bible Belt?

mr. flea noted, "At least they asked, and 'no' was an option," but me, I tend to like a sharp line between my spiritual guidance and my medical care. mr. flea thinks I'm being prejudiced against religion. Am I overreacting to want to look for another practice (this is in GA, so we have no existing relationship, yet)?

Comments

[loligo.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely look elsewhere. I've been a tiny bit creeped out by our pediatrician ever since I discovered he was a fundie. Here's what several people told me about him before we picked him: he used to be a big-shot pediatric neurologist in St. Louis, very highly regarded in his field, and he moved to our little town and opened a general pediatric practice so that he and his family could have a more relaxed life. All true, and definitely cool by me. But they didn't mention that he sends his kids to the most wingnut conservative Christian school in town. The first time I saw his family walking out of that school, my jaw just dropped. Suddenly all the Noah's Ark decorations in his office seemed a lot less innocuous.

And even he never put a question like that on his intake forms! So I say run.