In an attempt to nail down the question of whether prayer really can heal, six hospitals had strangers say prayers for 1,800 coronary-bypass patients and then studied the postoperative complications. Patients who were told they might or might not be prayed for had roughly the same complication rate, whatever their prayer status turned out to be. But those who were told for certain that they were in someone's prayers actually did worse. The doctors' tentative explanation: people who knew they were being prayed for might have thought they were sicker than they realized, which could have made their outcomes worse. But anyone tempted to think this study disproves the power of prayer should think again. The doctors and clergy who ran the study had no control over whether friends and family were also praying for the patients--and they certainly couldn't have forbidden personal prayers even if they knew about them. Beyond that, the prayers said by strangers were provided by the clergy and were all identical. Maybe that prevented them from being truly heartfelt. In short, the possible confounding factors in this study made it extraordinarily limited.
Please....no one pray for me if i am sick.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...2958-7,00.html