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- Re: An Indictment of Doctors of FaithShow More
What sleight-of-hand on the part of A. Weir, in commenting on this article. The writer says that athiest doctors help the poor because religion caused our culture to support this. That can't be, since religious doctors are no less influenced by culture than atheists. This and other comments attribute financial pressures to the religious doctor's behavior. Why would athiests have less financial pressure?
But the...
Competing Interests: None declared. - "Religious affiliation" might mask some important differencesShow More
This is a very interesting piece. For those of us that have been following the articles on this general topic by Curlin, et. al., the overall findings are not particularly surprising. It is the subtleties that are fascinating.
Physicians work in settings that serve the poor for a variety of reasons. I’m reminded of the comment by a recent CCHF conference speaker. When joining a large metropolitan public hospit...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Response to prior commentsShow More
As lead author of this manuscript, I appreciate the comments of my colleagues. I embrace efforts like the "4% solution" of CMDA, as a way of helping doctors think through how they might practice medicine faithfully with respect to the poor. Victor Kolade is undoubtedly correct that educational debt constrains doctors intentions to practice among the underserved, but it is not clear to me why that burden would fall dispr...
Competing Interests: None declared. - More Investment RequiredShow More
I found the article on physician spirituality and care of the underserved intriguing (1). While acknowledging the limitations listed by the authors, I noted an absence of testing for possible effects of years of practice and/or profession of faith. Fewer than 5% of respondents had received loan repayment assistance; without such a boost, it can easily take 30 years to repay medical school debt (2). Perhaps a number of r...
Competing Interests: None declared. - Accounting for misisionaries?
Many Christian denominations have a tradition of recruiting doctors for foreign missionary service. Might not that affect the outcome of this study by redirecting doctors that would otherwise be more disposed to serve the disadvantaged in the U.S. to instead serve the even more disadvantaged in other countries?
Competing interests: None declared
Competing Interests: None declared. - An Indictment of Doctors of FaithShow More
Curlin, et al’s report comes to us suggesting a bidirectional influence of secular and sacred.
First, the article is an indictment of physicians who follow the great faith traditions, each of which mandates a responsibility for the poor. Though the most spiritual doctors do serve the poor more, the majority of doctors practicing their faith do not seem to take the mandate seriously. There seems to be a disconne...
Competing Interests: None declared.