Doctors and Miracles

[The Mighty Thor]

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2004--A national survey of 1,100 physicians, conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City over the past weekend, found that 74% of doctors believe that miracles have occurred in the past and 73% believe that can occur today.

The poll also indicated that American physicians are surprisingly religious, with 72% indicating they believe that religion provides a reliable and necessary guide to life.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041220005244&newsLang=en

[Ashles]

A survey
conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary
It's hardly unbiased is it?

I would like to see how the questions were worded and what they are defining as miracles.

[The Mighty Thor]

Originally posted by Ashles
A survey

It's hardly unbiased is it?

I would like to see how the questions were worded and what they are defining as miracles.

Yes. I posted it to see reactions. I am hopeless at stats and don't know when a poll is significant or not.

It looked, at first sight, to be well over the top. But then I remembered it IS the United Religious States of America, and I thought -- maybe it is accurate. I keep seeing posts about woo-woo treatments entering hospitals. I certainly know two doctors who are very religious. But miracles . . .? I wonder what the result would be in the UK.

Would a doctor use the word "miracle" regarding patients? I suppose there must be cases that beat the odds that a doctor might loosely call a miracle.

There is an e-mail address in the article for contact with the institution regarding the poll.

[The Mighty Thor]

Hah! Just watched a report on "the smallest baby ever born" on Fox News, and the doctor said something like: (not exact quote)

"We work to a Higher Power here. Sometimes things can't be explained."

The baby's name in Indian means "from God".

He certainly implied a miracle in religious terms.

Just one example, of course.

[The Mighty Thor]

Physicians differ regarding their perceptions of their control of treatment outcomes versus the influence of the supernatural or of acts of God. 35% of Catholics believe that all or a lot of the outcome of treatment is due to these non-medical sources, 46% of Protestants concur while only 20% of Jews attribute outcomes to non-medical influences.

Editors/Reporters: For more information on the poll, or to speak with Dr. Mittleman or Glenn Kessler, please contact Sherry Kirschenbaum in the Department of Communications at (212) 678-8953; or email shkirschenbaum@jtsa.edu.

These figures must be exaggerated, surely?