Dr. Mark Pool praying with patient
Nowadays, more and more doctors and surgeons are trying to pay attention to their spiritual needs before undertaking their treatments or surgeries. In many cases, it is no longer necessary to call a pastor or a chaplain. Mark Pool, a Dallas heart surgeon is one such doctor who tries to help his patience both medically and spiritually.
Pool (Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital) liked to refer to God as “the Great Physician” for He is the one who ultimately controls life or death. He also pointed to his scalpel his tool for surgery, and described himself as God’s own tool. He shared that he liked to pray with his patience before the procedures because “it shows them that I don’t think I’m sitting in the place of God; it shows them that I see that I’m just an instrument in His hand.”
There are however, some concerns regarding such actions by doctors that some patients might be uncomfortable. Rohan Jeyarajah, a gastrointestinal surgeon and another praying physician commented that he acknowledges the fact. He explained that, “I think it’s important to be sensitive to the fact that there are patients, number one, who may not be Christian. And, number two, there are patients who may not believe in God at all.” Nevertheless, doctors like Pool and Jeyarajah continue to act as God’s witness in the hospital and ask patients to pray with them.
It is not only within the boundaries of the patients’ medical condition that doctors like to pray for, but also other issues they may be going through outside the hospital. For instance, Doctor Pool shared about a patient who had just gone through a divorce, and how they both prayed together for reconciliation.
Pool also shared how he even considered giving up his medical career to be a pastor. Like Pool, many other physician continue to serve as God’s scalpels and witnesses in the medical field.
