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​God's Healthcare
​ By Rev Mark B. Safeek, Retired Clergy and Founding Board Member, The SafeCare Group
USA 
​June 30, 2019
When we take the time to really think about technology from a biblical point of view,
​we learn that technology is a God-given gift.
​Yisrael Safeek, MD, MBA: Welcome Rev. Safeek. You are a founding board member of The SafeCare Group, an accomplished clergyman, world citizen, and humanitarian. You spent the past half century ministering to congregations globally in countries spanning five continents. After your retirement from clergy activity, you focused your attention toward improving the quality of care for seniors after undergoing various medical procedures and laparoscopic surgeries. Healthcare has gone from a caring, service oriented model to a technological, cure-oriented model. Is there any room for faith or compassionate care?
Rev Mark Safeek: Technology has led to remarkable advances in medicine and has given us the ability to extend physical life to years we couldn’t imagine a century earlier. However, the whole person consist of physical, emotional, social, and yes spiritual. Because of the soulless nature of DaVinci robots and other medical technology, caregivers are now looking to medicine's Divine roots for relief.
          When a caregiver help someone who is weak or fix a bone that’s broken – that feeds the ego of the caregiver. But, when a caregiver hold the hand of a cancer patient - now, that feeds the soul.
          The word compassionate is form the Latin ‘cum’ meaning ‘with’ and ‘passus’ meaning ‘one who suffers’. So, compassion is ‘co-suffering’. Compassion involves ‘feeling for another’. Compassion may be one of the most important qualities for caregivers, as it brings about the desire to do something for a suffering patient. ‘First do no harm’ embraced by the medical profession is a statement of compassion and also of faith.
Abraham Safeek, MD: What does God say about compassion and healthcare?
MS: Scripture says, ‘He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage pile.’
YS: What are some examples of compassionate care?
MS: Listening to patients' fears, hopes, and dreams. Helping patients find meaning and acceptance in the midst of suffering from cancer is compassionate care. After someone gets a bad diagnosis they frequently ask ‘why me?’ After a child is diagnosed with cancer or an infant dies, people ask ‘Is there a God?’
          Pain is not only physical, there is also mental anguish and spiritual suffering. Compassionate care is when doctors, nurses and chaplains sit with patients, hold their hands, pray with them, help them find purpose in life at a time of severe distress, perhaps after receiving a death sentence from a cancer diagnosis. This eases the pain in the soul and the mental suffering.
          Caregivers still have to maintain professional boundaries, but not ignore faith. Someone once told me ‘DNR’ - which really is ‘do not resuscitate’ – means ‘do not round’ at their hospital. At a time when death is impending, technology may or may not be helpful. However, reverence, compassion, and prayer will help patients deal with issues of transcendence. Body, mind, and spirit – it’s why I believe a chaplain should be on every care team.
AS: Are there advantages of understanding patients' faith?
MS: Patients who prayed and embraced the Will of God often have a better outlook on life when confronted with adversity. They cope better with pain, especially pain of the soul and mental anguish. Prayer is a potent, non-pharmaceutical method of dealing with pain. That small still voice of the Creator within has a calming, serene effect that science and technology cannot substitute. The more doctors understand the patient’s spirituality, the more they can tailor treatments.
          For sure, stress delays healing, especially mental healing from conditions like depression. Faith by its very nature encourages positive thinking, instills hope. Meditation can accelerate the healing process and improve health outcomes. Meditation and prayer can help patients cope with bad diagnosis, complications, infections. This is why we say, ‘God is a Healer’. 
Another concrete example of why caregivers need to understand patients' faith is the Jehovah’s Witness. Imagine forcing a blood transfusion upon such a patient, leaving them with feelings of guilt from disobeying God.
YS: Explain ways for caregivers to practice faith-based care.
MS: First and foremost, caregivers should not lead a patient into prayer, unless requested by the patient. Second, caregivers should never provide spiritual counseling. That is dangerous. For example, a Jewish doctor’s religious belief may ridicule a Muslim’s patient's belief.
          So, caregivers can enquire about what helps the patient cope with stress or difficult times. What gives their life meaning? Are they part of a religious community that can offer emotional and spiritual support? When discussing faith with patients, it is best that caregivers listen and support. Not guide or preach.
AS: Can you think of any national initiatives that incorporate spirituality into healthcare?
MS: The trend now is for hospitals to have a chapel or quiet place. Also, larger hospitals have a chaplain service with chaplains on call ready to offer faith-based intervention. My understanding is hospital accrediting bodies have incorporated spiritual needs assessment and pastoral care part of the CMS deemed process for payments.
YS: Should faith-based hospitals receiving Medicare dollars be compelled to perform abortions?
MS:  It is important to note that Christian hospitals were the world's first voluntary charitable institutions. The first ecumenical council of Nicea, A.D. 325 directed bishops to establish hospices and hospitals. Although their most important function was to nurse and heal the sick, they also provided shelter for the poor and lodging for Christian pilgrims. The first hospital was built by St. Basil in Caesarea on Cappadocia about A.D. 369. These hospitals revolutionized the treatment of the sick and the dying. Out of compassion for the sick and suffering, Christians felt that something ought to be done. It is very important that we should keep this point in mind.
          Some faith-based hospitals do not allow abortions and contraception. That is their religious belief. America was founded by people who escaped Europe to practice religious freedom. I don’t believe we should compel religious-owned hospitals to perform acts and procedures against their conscience and established religious beliefs. Faith-based hospitals should not be forced to subsidize abortions, sterilizations, and contraceptives. After all, it’s not freedom from religion, but freedom of religion.
          It is ironic that some of the same people demanding faith-based healthcare perform abortions, are the same ones demanding Planned Parenthood receive taxpayer dollars. The fact of the matter, Planned Parenthood aborted at least 300,000 unborn babies last year and took in over $500 million in our tax dollars last year. You can say they are tax-supported.
AS: As a board member for a software company, how has the digital explosion reshaped our understanding of God?
MS: Given the immense power for good and the incredible attractiveness of today's dazzling and elegant technologies, technology is attractive because of the God-given allure of the new thing. Slowly, we are developing machines and other things that make up a human’s likeness over time. I guess this is where we are heading after all: The quest to knowing and understanding God. When we take the time to really think about technology from a biblical point of view, we learn that technology is a God-given gift.
​YS: If technology is a God-given gift, surely using them could be interpreted as playing God?
MS: We all have a great deal of experience with technology in healthcare. From our EMR to checking our EKG on a smart phone, God gave us technology innovation to use as tools. From the first branch Adam used to work the soil to the latest computer chip, these tools enable us to enhance the execution of human ability. Look around you. Advanced technology has had a lot of breakthroughs over the years. And these are the inventions of robots, cybernetic enhancements, and artificial intelligence. We are not playing Gods, just following His will.
AS: In America, less wealth equals worse healthcare. What does God have to say about this?
MS: It is troubling that America has the resources to provide for all of its citizens, yet saving a life and preventing a disease has become so politicized. Scripture admonish us to ‘carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of God’. Also, ‘Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.’ I’m glad that Medicaid exists for the poor and Medicare for seniors like me.
YS: What about ‘Medicare for all’?
MS: Scripture teaches that governments are to protect our borders and keep us safe from foreign threats as well as protect us from domestic violence. Churches and employers on the other hand should not be enforcing the law or protecting the borders. Their role is to provide for the health and wellbeing of parishioners and employees. Scripture says, ‘Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray’. Also, ‘Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.’
          Besides, scripture teaches us about being financially responsible. Can we afford to pay for ‘Medicare for all’? Why not lower prescription drug prices, demand pricing transparency, and hold hospitals to the fire to keep cost down. A Tylenol should not cost a patient thirty dollars.
AS: You have experienced firsthand medical complications. When a serious complication occurs in a patient, what is the best strategy for caregivers when dealing with the patient?
MS: First, tell the truth. Immediately tell the patient what the complication is and what you believe has happened. Assure the patient that you are putting them in competent hands, and put the patient in the hands of the most competent, trustworthy colleague.
Second, keep the patient and family apprised. As soon as possible, seek out a family member and explain briefly what has occurred, what steps you are taking, and assure them your principle concern at the moment is their loved one. Make yourself available to the patient and family throughout the complication period. Finally, let the family know that all treatments carry risk.
YS: What concerns you about our current healthcare system?
MS: The broken promises of Obamacare and how it was sold to the American people with lies. You remember the lines from President Obama, ‘You can keep your doctor if you like your doctor’, and ‘you can keep your health plan if you like your health plan’. In my case, I have had to change doctors and health plans multiple times as they stop accepting my insurance, move out of state, or cease to do business because of Obamacare regulations.
AS: You have two sons who are medical doctors. What’s your advice to doctors?
MS: It is easy to forget that becoming a physician is a privilege. As a doctor, society assigned you the very special duty of healing God’s creation. Doctors must be good listeners, counselors, and advocates. They must also diagnose, treat and walk alongside patients’, hand-in-hand. This is the special privilege of being a physician - to be an insider in the lives of our patients and to use the power granted by God to heal pain and suffering. As the Great Physician advised in the parable of the Good Samaritan, be a good neighbor.
YS: Thank you Dad for your encouragement and support of The SafeCare Group.
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