Stories
of Prayer in the news:
A study
in the science journal The Archives of Internal Medicine shows you
may get what you pray for -- if you're praying for someone ill to
feel better. The study by researchers at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas
City indicates that even if those in poor health aren't aware they're
being prayed for, their outcomes tend to be better if they're included
in someone's prayer.
"This is very significant," Dr. Harold Koenig, associate
professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University School of
Medicine in Durham, N.C., told the Kansas City Star. "But I think
it is going to be highly, highly controversial. I'm not sure how many
doctors are going to embrace this."
The study of 990 heart patients admitted to St. Luke's suffered life-threatening
conditions, including heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
Of these, 466 were prayed for daily by five people.
Neither the patients nor their doctors knew anything about the prayers,
and those doing the praying didn't know the people they were praying
for, according to William Harris, who led the study.
"The patients who were prayed for just did better," Harris
said. The measurements of how the patients were faring included the
number and types of medications needed, amount of time on a respirator,
need for a pacemaker, length of hospital stay, speed of recovery and
the like.
Full article archived at:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/issues/v160n12/ffull/ilt0626-16.html
