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Prayer has NO effect fwd : Jahed Ahmed Published on December 29, 2007 Prayer doesn't help heart patients in U.S., study finds
Having people pray for heart bypass patients had no effect on
their recoveries in an American study, researchers say. The
scientists, led by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School,
emphasized that they looked only at the effect of prayer on the
patients in their study � and could not address questions such
as whether God exists or answers prayers. The research, which is
to be published in the April 2006 issue of the American Heart
Journal, involved about 1,800 patients at six medical centres.
Three Christian groups were asked to pray for particular
patients, starting the night before their surgeries and
continuing for two weeks. The volunteers were given a patient's
given name and last initial, and prayed for "a successful
surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications."
Patients were divided into three groups:
The researchers did not tell patients or their families
or friends to change their plans for praying, saying it
would have been impractical and unethical to do so.
More complications among patients who knew they
were prayed for
The patients were then monitored for 30 days for any
complications. The results showed no effect of
prayer on the patients' recovery, the researchers
said in the journal article, Study of the
Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in
cardiac bypass patients. The study found 59 per cent
of the patients who knew they were being prayed for
developed medical complications. Among those who
thought they might be prayed for, 52 per cent had
complications.
The researchers said they had
no explanation for the higher complication rate
among patients who knew they were being prayed for.
The work was funded by the Templeton
Foundation, which supports research into science and
religion.
Jahed Ahmed is a co-moderator at www.mukto-mona.com and writes from USA. He can be communicated thru : [email protected] Responses:
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