{"id":13231,"date":"2019-07-03T14:21:25","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T18:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=13231"},"modified":"2019-07-03T14:21:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T18:21:25","slug":"christian-doctor-prays-patients-risks-losing-medical-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2019\/07\/christian-doctor-prays-patients-risks-losing-medical-license","title":{"rendered":"Christian Doctor Prays With Patients, Risks Losing Medical License"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"download\"<\/a>Christian doctor Richard Scott, a general practitioner at the Bethesda Medical Center in England, is at risk of losing his medical license for incorporating his faith into his practice.<\/p>\n

Scott is currently under investigation by the General Medical Council and the National Health Service, after an acquaintance of a patient complained to the National Secular Society. According to “The Telegraph”, the acquaintance said that \u201chighly vulnerable\u201d patient felt \u201cdiscomfort at the use of prayer\u201d by Scott.<\/p>\n

Scott, who has practiced medicine for decades, said he and his patients \u201cfound a great deal of achievement through taking on faith\u201d but never did so without their permission.<\/p>\n

Scott added that he often introduced faith into consultation when “dealing with people with depression or anxiety.\u201d To clarify, though, he said that faith was always in addition to his medical treatments and never were used as an alternative.<\/p>\n

This was not the first complaint filed against Scott. The doctor received a warning in 2012 after telling a \u201cpsychologically troubled\u201d 24-year-old patient that \u201cunless he turned to Jesus, he would eternally suffer.\u201d He furthermore allegedly said, \u201cThe devil haunts people who do not turn to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, earlier this year the NSS filed another complaint when Scott appeared on BBC Radio 4 and spoke about the Christian faith being used to treat those with addiction, anxiety and depression. Here, he again made it clear that it’s \u201cvery important\u201d people see the religious element as \u201can addition\u201d to standard medical care.<\/p>\n

NSS President Keith Porteous Wood assured that he doesn\u2019t want Scott to lose his job but wants to see people \u201cact in a professional way.\u201d However, it’s up to General Medical Council if Scott will be able to keep his license.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinarily sensitive issue where a doctor comes on with his or her religion. And you\u2019re a vulnerable patient, and you don\u2019t want to irritate them, you kind of just have to take it, and actually inwardly squirm,\u201d Wood said. “They won\u2019t want to turn around and say, \u2018I don\u2019t believe what you believe.\u2019 Somebody who\u2019s going to a doctor who\u2019s part of the NHS shouldn\u2019t have that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Dieppe, head of public policy for the advocacy group Christian Concern, finds the suit to be ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very good doctor with long-standing experience and what\u2019s wrong with him talking to patients about the benefits of prayer?\u201d he asked. \u201cOf course he\u2019s aware [some people might be uncomfortable with prayer] and of course he always asks permission and tries to sensitively see if people are open to that or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The fact is that prayer makes a difference,\u201d Dieppe continued. \u201cThe fact is we are spiritual beings as well as physical beings and if you’re showing concern for a patient as a whole person you’ll want to bring spirituality into it sometime, when you feel that that’s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian doctor Richard Scott, a general practitioner at the Bethesda Medical Center in England, is at risk of losing his medical license for incorporating his faith into his practice. Scott is currently under investigation by the General Medical Council and the National Health Service, after an acquaintance of a patient complained to the National Secular…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2204,2568,2569],"class_list":["post-13231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian","tag-doctor","tag-medical"],"yoast_head":"\nChristian Doctor Prays With Patients, Risks Losing Medical License<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Richard Scott may possibly have his medical license revoked after sharing his faith with his patients.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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