Friday, March 31, 2006

Not a Prayer

Todays NYT:

"Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.

. . .

"At least 10 studies of the effects of prayer have been carried out in the last six years, with mixed results. The new study was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations. The report was scheduled to appear in The American Heart Journal next week, but the journal's publisher released it online yesterday."

The rest is here.
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5 comments:

Lorcy said...

bastards! I was praying for all those people that I don't know and don't agree with all the time and they don't have the fucking decency to get well. Fucking christians, you would think with all the eternal life that they're gettin' they'd be less whiny...

4/01/2006 1:44 am
Unknown said...

I am as usual horrified that such a study was carried out, because that means it was funded by someone, somewhere... I mean, perfectly good money was used to investigated to relation between "being prayed for" and "complications" at the time of cardiac surgery... I just hope I misunderstood completely.
Next time maybe they can use the money better. For, like, real medical research. Or for the "Gordon's Tonic for Stefania Foundation", my favourite charity.

4/03/2006 1:04 pm
Reidski said...

Lorcy and stef have said absolutely everything that i wanted to - what a pair of shitterss they are for not letting me get in there first!! Jokes, of course, what a pair of brilliant human being they are, as you are too John for posting that one in the first place.

And, to get a bit serious, it is something I have been saying recently - that is, yes, islamic fundamentalists are loonies, but "we" have our own loonies who are equally, if not more, dangerous!!

Shit, I should'nt make any comments when I'm pissed ...

4/04/2006 12:04 am
John said...

pissed at 7.04 a.m. in the morning?

You go, guy!

4/04/2006 2:23 pm
John said...

My favourite remains the story of a female scientist researching the effect of prayer on the remission of a very rare brain cancer, and during the course of the experiment, she developed the very same rare brain cancer as her subjects.

I swear it's true. I'll dig it out for you.

4/04/2006 2:27 pm

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