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Previous Volume 343:1339-1342 November 2, 2000 Number 18 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: I am concerned that Sloan and colleagues (June 22 issue)¹ justify separating religion and spirituality from medical practice by holding up and condemning an extreme position, which is that doctors should prescribe religious activities and counsel patients in spiritual matters. I agree that physicians have no business doing either of the above, but they could take a spiritual history as part of their evaluation of seriously ill patients.

A task force of the American College of Physicians has suggested four simple questions.² If a patient indicated that religion was not important to his or her medical care, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Magyar-Russell, G., Fosarelli, P., Taylor, H., Finkelstein, D. (2008). Ophthalmology Patients' Religious and Spiritual Beliefs: An Opportunity to Build Trust in the Patient-Physician Relationship. Arch Ophthalmol 126: 1262-1265 [Abstract] [Full Text]