This article on the Science Daily website, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104161902.htm, takes a look at how religion affects the relationship between pediatricians and their patients. The article mainly reflects religion positively by saying that most of the pediatricians surveyed, most said that religion helps the family in decision-making (and coping) and is only bad when it conflicts with medical advise.
It was nice to read an article that portrayed religion in a nice way, but I think a larger survey of general doctors might have been more helpful. But it’s also useful to remember that this is just a small group of doctors of one profession and not a survey over a large number of doctors in different disciplines. But it makes sense the religion can help families with difficulties. For example, a family can think that God has a purpose for their baby to be sick or that their child will go to a better place if he or she dies. But I think that a survey of many other disciplines would have had an opposite result. A survey of stem cell researchers could be very frustrated at religious people for cutting their federal funding and might say that religion is restricting the options available to patients.
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