BMA refuses to give doctors permission to offer prayer to their patients

Doctors have voted down a Christian motion at the BMA conference this week that would have given carte blanche for religious medical practitioners to “share their faith” without restraint. The motion had called for doctors not to be suspended for offering to pray for patients.

The Conference also rejected a motion saying that abortion services should not be advertised on television and calling for “values-based education on sex and relationships”.

“Raising the profile of abortion services suggests to young people that pregnancy isn’t serious because abortion is readily available,” the BMA was told by one member.

Another argued that people should have access to as much information as possible when they became pregnant and that preventing access to abortion services would not solve the problem of unwanted pregnancies. The notion of a values-based education was opposed by members who were worried that the wording was unspecific and that “values” were perceived differently according to the individual.

In a final debate in its series of motions involving ethical issues, members discussed assisted dying. A motion was defeated which called for patients who are “terminally ill and who have mental capacity” being allowed to die and that those accompanying patients travelling abroad to die are not subject to prosecution.

Commenting on the decision to retain the rule discouraging doctors from offering prayers to patients, Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: “The restrictions are there for a very important reason – to protect patients from embarrassment, irritation and possible conflict with their doctor. If patients want to raise the issue with their doctor or nurse, that is a different matter, but we think the initiative should rest entirely with the patient.”

Mr Sanderson said that the NHS was spending more than £40 million on hospital chaplains whose job was to pray and offer spiritual comfort to patients. Sick people want doctors to take care of their physical health and a clergyman to take care of their spiritual health. Doctors and nurses have enough to do without burdening themselves with the need to pray with patients.”