Praying for the Critically Ill

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Loma Linda Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Merrick Lopez

Dafne Moretta

Three Doctors’ Thoughts on Praying With/For Patients

I'm 1 of the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellows here at Loma Linda.

And I have the task today to try to answer the question that you see on the screen.

So before I start trying to answer to that question, I just want to share with you 2 quotes that actually have carried me through my medical training, my nursing training before becoming a physician.

And the first 1 has to do with our role in praying with patients.

And it says this, it is our work to present the sick and suffering to Christ in the arms of our faith.

If you think about that high calling, we have to work daily in our faith and in our journey of faith in order to be able to present to Christ those that we care for.

And then very simply, the very essence of the gospel is restoration.

And we know about restoration in Loma Linda, don't we?

We know that it's our role and our call and mission to restore the image of God in those that we care for.

And I think part of that mission comes from taking care of the spiritual ailment of those patients we have under our care.

So trying to answer the question, I went essentially to 3 resources.

The first 1 to the Bible, and then to my favorite Christian author, and finally to some people that I know pray with their patients.

So when I think about prayer for the sick, immediately my mind goes to James chapter 5.

And there are a few verses over there James tried to make a discourse about really what it means to pray for the sick and he starts with a simple question saying, Is anyone of you sick?

This all-inclusive question talks to me about the need to pray for every single 1 who is sick.

And then James starts giving a recipe with different ingredients on how to do that.

And then he talks about something important about confession and prayer.

And he says, pray 1 for another that ye may be healed.

Not only the person that we're praying for but praying for healing brings healing to ourselves as well.

And finally James says the effectual prayer, sorry the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much, or accomplishes everything in God's power.

My favorite author says, with all our treatments, absolutely with all of them given to the sick, simple, fervent prayer should be offered for the blessing of healing.

So imagine every time you hang a new presser, or you do a procedure, or you count calories for the patient, you move them for first time, you talk to the family.

Any intervention, every single treatment, should be accompanied by a very silent, short prayer, Lord, may this be a blessing for this person.

It takes a few seconds, but we are called to do this.

We don't have the power of healing, but we have the power available to us.

And finally, trying to answer to this question, I talk to a lot of friends that I know, they're praying physicians.

And it's interesting, when I ask, should we pray with all our patients?

Almost unanimously, they say, of course we should.

And the answer all throughout the war was, well, We don't have the time to do that.

And so I just want to read to you all this interchange that we have, a group of us.

Everyone has value before the eyes of God, someone says.

The question I might ask is, do I believe in God?

And while this has not been a series on the existence of God, particularly talking about this seminar, it is difficult to overlook the fact that this institution, Loma Linda University, was established by people who not only believed in God, but believed that God believes in people.

It is in this spirit that we bring broken, desperate to a God that has time and time again proven himself invested in broken humanity.

What does it cost me really to bring my patients, during and between life and death, to such a God?

So when I came to Loma Linda for the first time as a medical student, I was amazed and inspired by a lot of the paintings that we have in the hospital lobby.

And this particular 1 just tells such a beautiful story to me.

You have a praying physician for a pediatric patient for his family and you have this little girl just in the back noticing absolutely everything that is going on.

When we pray in the hospital for everyone, we bless our patients, we bless their families, and we bless everyone who notice that we are praying.

I don't have the perfect formula, but I guess the main start point is just recognizing the value of your patient before God's eyes.

So I guarantee you if you don't understand the value of those that you care for, you're not going to have the interest, the passion, or the desire to pray for them.

Pray for everyone but not necessarily with everyone.

And this is very real in the ICU environment when people where people are delirious or sedated, intubated, they forgot their hearing aids, whatever it is, communication is always difficult.

But I think few seconds to pray for everyone is important.

Pray with faith, pray fervently, and pray without ceasing.

And I just want to finish with a very short story.

If you guys were here last week, you probably saw the video about Dr.

Nguyen and his testimony after his experience being a patient.

Well, when I heard that, I was a first year fellow when this occurred and I was terrified by Dr.

So when I heard that he had an accident, I just prayed.

But I knew deep in my heart I should have gone and offered prayer for him.

Hartley is here, that he took the time to do that.

Wen's life was never the same after that experience.

Think about the, you know, see every single 1 as a potential soul for the kingdom of God.

It takes a few seconds, so pray with everyone.

And it's kind of a change in the program, and he opened up his spot to me.

I went to last week's meeting, and prayer is an important part of just my own life and how I deal with patients.

I went here, I also was a nurse here, and went here for medical school, residency, fellowship, and I've been attending now for 5 years in the Peds ICU.

And the biggest reason is because I believe in the mission of this hospital and the fact that we can pray with patients.

So I'm gonna give some practical tips to echo a little of what Carrie talked about.

And then I'm gonna talk about a case study and then also share from the Ministry of Healing.

I know she mentioned Ellen White, and this is something that I get a lot of inspiration and tips on how I deal with patients.

So we're gonna talk about how to ask, when to pray, and how to pray.

So as far as how to ask, you know, just looking for hints in the room.

You know, when you pass by, is there a Bible?

Is there a religious book at the bedside?

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Three Doctors’ Thoughts on Praying With/For Patients

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