Spiritual Life Support

Doctors and nurses throughout the World are being encouraged to improve their practice of medicine by attending courses with prescribed programs on how to manage particular medical situations – especially acute emergencies. The improved results obtained by those who have been trained on such courses as ATLS have become so apparent that many hospitals now make it a compulsory requirement for employment.

At conferences of Christian doctors and nurses it has become increasingly apparent that many Christians who are well trained in their own areas of medical specialization are not confident when faced with spiritual problems and so tend to shy away from both diagnosing and treating such conditions.

When the World Health Organisation was first established in 1948 it defined ‘health’ as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". There was subsequently considerable debate as to whether ‘spiritual wellbeing’ should be included. There are obvious reasons for this. A person who is racked with guilt may develop depression or recover from an operation slower than normal. It is often when crises develop that spiritual needs become apparent.

When I was a house officer I was caring for a man with advanced cancer. He was clearly worried about himself so I asked him if he had any faith to help him or wasn’t sure about such things. He replied,

“I wish I had.”

I didn’t feel confident to help him so suggested that he might like to talk with the hospital chaplain and he readily accepted this suggestion. I spoke to the chaplain and he kindly agreed to see the man. A few days later I was speaking to the patient again and asked him how his discussion with the chaplain had gone. He had apparently been very pleasant and they had spent the time discussing what he would like to do for his next holiday. They had not discussed his longing for peace and meaning that many dying people have. When I next met with the chaplain I asked him how the conversation had gone. He thought it had gone well. I then asked him if he had been able to satisfy his spiritual needs and to my surprise he replied,

“I didn’t think he was ready for anything deep like that.”

That patient died shortly afterwards. I now suspect that that chaplain had the same problem as many of us. He had not been trained in spiritual life support. What a disaster that neither of us could help him find peace with God!