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

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

I would look elsewhere for a doctor, if possible. If the doctor's putting religious stuff on his forms I'd worry about his religious beliefs intruding on his medical practice. Even if he would never say, "That's God's will," when he should be saying, "Here are some high powered antibiotics that'll clear the problem up in two weeks," my concern about the possibility would not make for a comfortable doctor-patient relationship.