One of the studies was a national survey of more than 1,000 clergy. The other involved in-depth interviews with 35 ministers from five states. The research raises three critical areas of concern:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Too much faith in miracles: More than three in 10 clergy in the national survey said they would strongly agree with a congregant who said, \u201cI believe God will cure me of this cancer.\u201d Eighteen percent affirmed the belief that every medical treatment should be accepted \u201cbecause my faith says to do everything I can to stay alive.\u201d
\n\u2022 Lack of knowledge: In the in-depth study, spiritual leaders showed little knowledge of end-of-life care, including the benefits of palliative care and potential harms associated with invasive interventions. \u201cMany grossly overestimated the benefits of aggressive medical procedures at the end of life,\u201d researchers reported in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Three-quarters said they would like more training in end-of-life issues.
\n\u2022 Fear of overstepping boundaries: The default position of many clergy, even those who personally believed it was against God\u2019s will to suffer unnecessarily, was to merely support the decisions of dying congregants and their family members.<\/p>\n
But even such passivity has consequences, researchers said, in that it can enable congregants to seek potentially nonbeneficial treatments that are associated with increased suffering.<\/p>\n
The larger problem was summarized by one study participant: \u201cWe have not done a good job\u2026on preparing people to die\u2013that they don\u2019t need to live the last days of their lives under terrible and excruciating pain<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n