PRAYING for patients undergoing heart surgery does not help to save them, according to a study of heart patients.
Mitchell Krucoff of the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues divided into four groups 700 people scheduled to have procedures such as the insertion of a catheter into their heart. Established Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Buddhist congregations prayed for the patients in the first group. The second listened to soothing music, imagined “peaceful, beautiful” places and received a series of 45-second-long “healing touches” from medical staff. The third group got prayer as well as music, imagery and…
