Impact of Religion and Spirituality on Medical Practices

School

Atlanta Technical College *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

1101

Subject

Medicine

Date

Jan 9, 2024

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Pages

Uploaded by kharris3929

Spirituality/Religion and Medicine Religion/Spirituality: What Impact Does It Have On The Medical World? Keshaunana Harris Maynard Jackson Highschool Use of Religion/Spirituality In Medicine: A Literature Review 0

Spirituality/Religion and Medicine Religion/spirituality has a major impact on medical decisions made by doctors and patients, and this is frequently identified as an issue. Research on the influences of religion/spirituality in medicine shows some interesting findings, from the interdependence of the two in the Native American Indian culture, to their seeming juxtaposition in the culture of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the relationship of each to the other is significant. A fundamental question in my study is how significant it is. I looked at religion and medicine in different cultures to see if religious and spiritual beliefs impact medical decisions made by both doctors and patients. Medicine in Native American culture Medicine is generally used to allude to spiritual "healing" in the ceremonial content of indigenous North American societies. With spiritual guidance, the medicine man/woman uses plants, roots, and other botanicals to treat illness. Widely sold supplements such as black cohosh, blue cohosh, Elderberry, and Juniper we're using intensively by indigenous North American people (Borchers et al., 2000). For a harmonious existence medicine must be “right”, and the spirits must be pleased. This approach to medicine follows Native American heritage but it does not produce great results for their health. American Indians and Alaska natives continue to die at a higher rate than other Americans in many categories including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, unintentional injuries, assault/homicide, intentional self- harm/suicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases (Anonymous, 2019). The Shaman is concerned with all things spiritual and acts as a conduit to the great spirits. Medicine cannot be good if the spirits are not pleased. For native Americans who use our country’s prevailing medical systems, their health outcomes are not very good. A study on “Medical Mistrust and Less Satisfaction With Health Care Among Native Americans Presenting for Cancer Treatment” assesses barriers to cancer care among Native Americans, whose health outcomes compare 1

Spirituality/Religion and Medicine unfavorably with those of the general U.S. population. Factoring in income, education level, and distance lived from cancer care institutes, the study concluded Native Americans exhibit higher medical mistrust and lower satisfaction with health care ( Guadagnolo Et al., 2007). Religion and Medicine interact among Native American Indians. Native American people often claimed that their traditional ways of life do not include religion. They find the term difficult often impossible, to translate into their own languages (Anonymous, n.d). This seeming inconsistency implies that, while religion interacts with medicine, it has minimal impact on what they recognize as medical practices. Religion in medicine in early American culture West African slaves carried medicinal skills with them over the Atlantic, as well as seeds. Slaves developed the ability to heal illnesses using natural medicines. Some wore necklaces of wild licorice seeds as a protective amulet. Captains of slaving vessels used native roots to treat fevers that decimated their human cargo. Since the West African climate is similar to the climate in the mid-Atlantic region, slaves may have found counterparts to their plant species. Certainly, the herb lore of captive Africans was expanded by contact with Indian tribes. Slaves used many of the plants used by the community of their white owners: snakeroot, mayapple , red pepper , boneset, pine needles, comfrey, and red oak bark, to name a few ( Meriwether and Marks, 2009). Since the commencement of the slave trade, medicine has developed, controlled, promoted, and prospered throughout the Americas. In contrast to today's scientific medicine, 18th-century medicine included a religious component for both black and white healers. As Eileen Malone- Brown observes in her essay, “ Healthcare During Lucy's Lifetime ,” African healers felt a special connection to the plants they found in the woods, and they created remedies using components from African religious ceremonies. African spirituality was dismissed as “superstition” and an 2

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Spirituality/Religion and Medicine indication of a child-like mentality. Slave “root doctors” midwives, and conjurers, in the tradition of their forebears in Africa, cast spells. And, along with plants and animal parts, used trickery and intimidation to treat illness of both body and soul (Meriwether and Marks,2009). In the early American slave society, it was difficult to separate religion from medicine. Slave communities were certainly influenced by white European spirituality in their medical practices, but those communities also covertly practiced the spiritual medicine brought with them from Africa. Religion was a source of strength and relief for slaves, but it had only a limited direct impact on medical procedures. Medicine in Jehova witnesses culture Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible (Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:10, and Acts 15:29) prohibits ingesting blood ( Clinlab Navigator. n.d.).Yes, the Jehovah's Witnesses accept all medical treatment. They aren't against the medical practice, but since they are strongly religious, they refuse to undergo blood transfusions because they believe it is against the will of God, which may offer several difficulties for physicians. In the case of elective treatment or surgery, a medical practitioner who believes that a blood transfusion may be required may refuse to treat or perform surgery on a Jehovah's Witness patient who has refused to consent to the administration of a blood transfusion, provided that the practitioner is not already involved in the ongoing treatment of such patient, in which case a unilateral refusal to continue with the treatment could be viewed as a breach of contract ( Mps. n.d.). This obvious clash between religious ideas and modern medicine demonstrates that, at least, in this case, religion has a significant effect on medicine in the culture of Jehovah's Witnesses. Religion has varying degrees of effect on medicine, according to an assessment of the research listed here. In the native American culture, I found that religion (spirituality) and 3

Spirituality/Religion and Medicine medical practice closely resemble each other. Religion, rather than directly affecting how medicine is practiced, goes hand in hand with it. In early American slave communities again religion (spirituality) worked in concert with how medicine was practiced and ailments were treated. With the medical field itself, the religious impact is almost anonymous. Religion has a strong impact on medical practice in the Jehovah's Witness community, influencing both doctors and patients. The notion that blood transfusions are not God's will raises extremely important issues in the care of a person in this culture. Religion still has a presence in certain societies today, although most medical models are based on science. References Borchers, A. T., Keen, C. L., Stern, J. S., & Gershwin, M. E. (2000, August 01). Inflammation and Native American medicine: The role of botanicals. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from 4

Spirituality/Religion and Medicine https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/72/2/339/4729391 Clinlab Navigator. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2021, from http://www.clinlabnavigator.com/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-transfusion.html Disparities: Fact Sheets. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.ihs.gov/newsroom/factsheets/disparities/ Friedson, M. L. (2014). Psychotherapy and the Fundamentalist Client: The Aims and Challenges of Treating Jehovah’s Witnesses. (2), 693-712. doi:10.1007/s10943-014- 9946-8 Guadagnolo, B. A., Cina, K., Helbig, P., Molloy, K., Reiner, M., Cook, E. F., & Petereit, D. G. (2009, February 04). Medical Mistrust and Less Satisfaction With Health Care Among Native Americans Presenting for Cancer Treatment. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258476 JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://kyha.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/PreparednessDocs/cg-jw-rev.pdf McCormick, T. R. (n.d.). Spirituality and medicine . Spirituality and Medicine | UW Department of Bioethics & Humanities. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/ethics-medicine/bioethics-topics/detail/79 Meriwether, L., & Marks, L. (2009). Slave Medicine. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.monticello.org/sites/library/exhibits/lucymarks/medical/slavemedicine.html 5

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Spirituality/Religion and Medicine Mps. (n.d.). Medical Protection Society. Retrieved from https://www.medicalprotection.org/southafrica/casebook/casebook-may-2014/the- challenges-of-treating-jehovah's-witnesses 6

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