TY - JOUR

T1 - Counterpoint: Is it ethically appropriate for physicians to offer to pray with patients in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)? No

AU - Poole, Rob

AU - Richardson, Ben

PY - 2022/4/1

Y1 - 2022/4/1

N2 - It is ethically inappropriate for physicians to offer to pray with patients in the ICU. Patients in ICU are seriously ill, helpless and vulnerable. Appropriate spiritual or religious support should be provided to them by properly trained chaplains. Religious and spiritual belief is diverse, and an unsolicited invitation to joint prayer from a stranger will predictably provoke negative feelings in a proportion of patients. ICU patients are very likely to be delirious and to suffer adverse psychological sequelae, which means that well-meant but ambiguous behaviour by a physician is easily misinterpreted.

AB - It is ethically inappropriate for physicians to offer to pray with patients in the ICU. Patients in ICU are seriously ill, helpless and vulnerable. Appropriate spiritual or religious support should be provided to them by properly trained chaplains. Religious and spiritual belief is diverse, and an unsolicited invitation to joint prayer from a stranger will predictably provoke negative feelings in a proportion of patients. ICU patients are very likely to be delirious and to suffer adverse psychological sequelae, which means that well-meant but ambiguous behaviour by a physician is easily misinterpreted.

KW - ethics

KW - prayer

KW - religion

KW - spirituality

KW - ICU

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2021.10.004

DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2021.10.004

M3 - Article

VL - 161

SP - 884

EP - 885

JO - Chest

JF - Chest

SN - 0012-3692

IS - 4

ER -