Are personal faith and medical care compatiable?

[fanbuffett]

I have to say that i am Baptist (have been called backwoods baptist) and not a fan of gay peaple. My belief is that is it wrong. but it does not keep me from providing care to that person. My bible teach's me to love all man as if it where christ himself for to sin aganst my brother is to sin against christ (please don't ask me where it is)

And when i pic up someone that i don't agree with there life style i do not preach to then are make them feel anyless of person

I simply accept then for who thay are and treat them like a real person. And i pray for them on my down time. i have had some less than perfect peaple in my rig and a lot of them did not share my point of view but thay where the patient i was with so thay where the most important person in the world to me at that time

[Nate]

I am methodist, I'm better then all of you.

[Michael]

My bible teach's me to love all man as if it where christ himself for to sin aganst my brother is to sin against christ (please don't ask me where it is)

Matthew 25:40 "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

[fanbuffett]

thanks Michael. and Nate I will be praying for you very hard lol

[Eydawn]

Well, since we can't give blood transfusions (so all the Jehovah's Witness folks are ok) and we can't give birth control (so all the Catholics are ok) and the kind of care we provide is compassionate, skilled care regardless of who our patient is, I think this discussion isn't particularly pertinent to EMS in and of itself. I mean.. unless there's some Scientologists who don't want to intubate because it screws over the karma of the person's aura which will send them straight to somewhere or other when they die.... (I know nothing about Scientologists... no offense :wink:) I can't think of any procedures that EMS personnel would object to DOING. Now, what the patient objects to you doing to them is a whole 'nother bucket of worms.

Stuff like praying with patients or baptizing stillborn infants falls under the realm of compassionate care, rather than physical care; you might not believe it but it helps them, so you do it. To a point; you have to remain true to your own beliefs, so if they want you to profess your faith in God/Allah/Buddha/Etcetera with them, then you can say, I can't do that, but I can affirm and support your doing so.

I think this idea applies more to other medical fields, like pharmacists, primary care physicians, and so on and so forth. If a physician can't perform a skill or isn't comfortable with his skills in that particular area being requested, he can always refer a patient to another doctor. In emergency medicine though, you don't have time for that, so you better be ready to kick butt when necessary and reconcile yourself to whatever violations to your faith that might have occurred later. You have a mission- a job to do with all of the manual and cognizant skill that you possess.

For me, that is a part of my faith; I minister to those injured, sick or otherwise hurting. If they want me to pray with them, I'm glad to; the only prayer I'll do otherwise is as we ride out towards the call- for protection and assistance in DOING MY DUTY. And I don't scream it out to the world; my relationship between God and myself is not something I need to advertise or foist on others.

Look at it this way- you get mad at the co-worker whose significant other is all over them in a very public way; it makes some people uncomfortable. They have a right to that emotion, but not to subject others to it who don't want to be subjected to it. Therefore, since prayer is an affirmation of my relationship with God, and it makes some people uncomfortable, I keep public display of it to a minimum without losing my ability TO pray when I need to.

Eydawn

NREMT-B

[rat115]

Well, since we can't give blood transfusions (so all the Jehovah's Witness folks are ok) and we can't give birth control (so all the Catholics are ok) and the kind of care we provide is compassionate, skilled care regardless of who our patient is, I think this discussion isn't particularly pertinent to EMS in and of itself. I mean.. unless there's some Scientologists who don't want to intubate because it screws over the karma of the person's aura which will send them straight to somewhere or other when they die.... (I know nothing about Scientologists... no offense :wink:) I can't think of any procedures that EMS personnel would object to DOING. Now, what the patient objects to you doing to them is a whole 'nother bucket of worms.

Stuff like praying with patients or baptizing stillborn infants falls under the realm of compassionate care, rather than physical care; you might not believe it but it helps them, so you do it. To a point; you have to remain true to your own beliefs, so if they want you to profess your faith in God/Allah/Buddha/Etcetera with them, then you can say, I can't do that, but I can affirm and support your doing so.

I think this idea applies more to other medical fields, like pharmacists, primary care physicians, and so on and so forth. If a physician can't perform a skill or isn't comfortable with his skills in that particular area being requested, he can always refer a patient to another doctor. In emergency medicine though, you don't have time for that, so you better be ready to kick butt when necessary and reconcile yourself to whatever violations to your faith that might have occurred later. You have a mission- a job to do with all of the manual and cognizant skill that you possess.

For me, that is a part of my faith; I minister to those injured, sick or otherwise hurting. If they want me to pray with them, I'm glad to; the only prayer I'll do otherwise is as we ride out towards the call- for protection and assistance in DOING MY DUTY. And I don't scream it out to the world; my relationship between God and myself is not something I need to advertise or foist on others.

Look at it this way- you get mad at the co-worker whose significant other is all over them in a very public way; it makes some people uncomfortable. They have a right to that emotion, but not to subject others to it who don't want to be subjected to it. Therefore, since prayer is an affirmation of my relationship with God, and it makes some people uncomfortable, I keep public display of it to a minimum without losing my ability TO pray when I need to.

Eydawn

NREMT-B

:thumbright: I think you hit the nail on the head there.

I believe that our main job is to do what is NECCESSARY for our pt to survive whatever sent us to help them. If someone believes that giving medications or blood is something that is going to go against thier beliefs, they should not be in this field or be at the training level that would require them to provide that kind of treatment. Our main job is to get our pt to medical treatment and do what we can to make sure that they are going to get there in the best condition possible. That may mean giving fluids, helping the person take medications, or just talking with the pt to calm them.

AK, your question about people starting their response by stating that they're a christian or a particular dinomation is kind of interesting. This topic was spawned off of something that a person chose to due in the name of the faith that he practices. I agree that in the field it really doesn't matter what faith you practice; it matters how you practice your profession. For myself, I can say that I annoy many people that start a faith/religion conversation becuase of my past. I've been to pretty much every dinomination of christanity, spent 3 yrs going to a jewish synagog and got mixed up in the occult when I was a teen. So when I look at how I deal with things I have no trouble understanding that my beliefs are not everyone's and that includes someone else of the same dinomiation. :toothy7:

I also agree about this topic bringing out those who don't normally post and it keeps those who do post on their toes too.

[hammerpcp]

Their is no room for personal faith if it interferes with your pt care. It's that simple.

[Michael]

Look at it this way- you get mad at the co-worker whose significant other is all over them in a very public way; it makes some people uncomfortable. They have a right to that emotion, but not to subject others to it who don't want to be subjected to it. Therefore, since prayer is an affirmation of my relationship with God, and it makes some people uncomfortable, I keep public display of it to a minimum without losing my ability TO pray when I need to.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." - The Sermon on the Mount

[hammerpcp]

She would be accommodated, just like the nurse who refuses to participate in abortions, or as I was for refusing to participate in circumcisions. I suppose the difference is that EMT's and medics are a dime a dozen. Nurses and pharmacists are not.

The difference is that circumcisions are elective procedures and completely medically unnecessary with modern shower technology. Elective therapeutic abortions are also not necessary to maintain the life of the pt. A blood transfusion on the other hand, is not an elective procedure. It is done only to maintain vital function. That's the difference. This woman should not be "accommodated", she should find another job.

[benanzo]

religion is soo strange to me. It baffles me to hear someone say that they "don't approve of someone's lifestyle...but they treat them like a human anyway" Who cares? Not me, not them. Ever think that satan's evil plan was to convince people he was good and holy so we'd turn against each other and fight over it for all time. Obviously God doesn't care, otherwise he'd correct it. And don't tell me that he doesn't want to because he doesn't want robots, we have freewill, yadayada. I can't believe in god because I can't rationalize the concept of an all-powerful god not intervening in tragedies because we have "free-will." Oh, but he does!! God works in mysterious ways!!! nope. For every one so-called miraculous intervention, 40 billion bite the dust and continue their awful awful existences because it was god's plan and they can look foreward to having a higher seat in heaven or whatever. Sounds strange...

No pt should be treated bad for any reason. And if I ever go to the hosp in an AMB, the tech better not minister to me...it's just embarrassing. Someone said something about EMS as "doing God's work." I consider it defying God's work.

Just a thought