Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Religion in the Doctor's Office

I went to the doctor this morning because of some sinus issues I've been having over the past month and at first it seemed like it would be nothing out of the ordinary. However, during the usual run of questions asked by the nurse, I was caught off guard when asked what my religion was. This caused me to hesitate before responding just for a fraction of a second, because I was wondering how the hell it was even relevant to my visit before answering "none".  It wasn't until a little later (surprisingly) that I figured out some way to tie the two together, considering Jehovah's Witnesses won't accept blood transfusions, or even vaccines, if I'm not mistaken. Still, I feel like it was a weird question to ask. You would think if someone's beliefs were that opposed to particular types of medical treatment they would just tell the doctor from the outset or something. Maybe you can think of a reason why this question can/should be asked before someone is about to be seen by a medical professional, in what I'm pretty sure is a secular medical institution, but as of now, I feel like it's an inappropriate and irrelevant question to ask upon a visit to the doctor. Let me know what you think.

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3 comments:

  1. I'm curious. My guess is as good as yours though. I wish I had some doctor friends...

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  2. I think it might because if one were to die then they could contact his heaven.

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  3. Although, it's amusing that they would happen to ask you. I was wondering what you told them? Did you say that there is no God, and there is no morals? Did you just say that you were an atheist? Do you think that if they found out the receptionist would of said,"May God have mercy on your soul..." or "You're just jealous of God's power, right? Accept that you are nothing, and he is ever so great! Hail God! HAIL GOD!"

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