Many doctors feel that religion can outweigh their professional advice when making medical decisions
“The reasons for this shift may be multifaceted but Kover, also a sociologist, said it is partly due to direct-to-consumer drug advertising and consumers’ religious beliefs. He says both are helping to move some of the power away from doctors and into the hands of consumers.
Over half (57 percent) of the physicians surveyed said that a patient’s religious reason for a medical course of action should trump a doctor’s treatment advice. In contrast, the other 43 percent said it should not.
When it comes to making healthcare decisions for children, however, nearly 84 percent of doctors agreed that a physician’s medical decision should not be overridden by the religious beliefs of a child’s guardian.
The respondents were almost evenly divided about whether saving a person’s life justifies violating their religious beliefs, with 51 percent saying that saving a person’s life does not justify that religious violation.”
