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JENNIFER LOVY
Special to the Jewish News

s a patient, Shana Duben is used to being asked
about her overall health, her family history and her
current symptoms. These are questions any patient
expects to answer during a visit to the physician.
However, when a doctor asks if faith is important, Duben is
relieved to be able to discuss the importance of spirituality with
health care.
"Most doctors don't discuss spirituality," said Duben, a
Southfield resident who has had a number of surgeries and suf-
fers from coronary artery disease. "Typically, those who do dis-
cuss it do so because they know it's important to me."
Over the last decade, medical journals have been publishing
articles supporting the power of prayer. The authors of these
studies found that a large number of patients want to discuss
faith and spirituality with doctors and some even want to pray
with physicians.
Research has also shown that those who are prayerful tend to
do better than those who are not. They also tend to be less anx-
ious, more accepting of their medical condition and have shorter
hospitalizations.
Despite the overwhelming medical research suggesting that
prayer is not only comforting to patients but also beneficial dur-
ing recovery periods, few doctors openly discuss spirituality and
religion with their patients.
One of Duben's physicians is a cardiologist, Dr. Jeffrey Zaks
of Providence Hospital in Southfield. He previously treated
Duben's father, the late Cantor Hyman Adler of Congregation
B'nai David, and understood the role prayer played in the fami-
ly's physical well being. Duben still remembers Dr. Zaks praying
with her father following a heart attack the cantor suffered.

Shana Duben has a lot of faith in Dr. Jeffrey Zaks.

She credits prayer and spirituality as a powerful tool that has
helped save her life on a number of occasions. From her father,
Duben came to believe that without faith in God, one does not
have faith in anything. He also taught her that a doctor's hands
are guided through God, which is why she frequently prays for
her doctors as well as herself.
For physicians who do not know Duben and did not know
her father, she will inevitably be the one to introduce spirituality
into the conversation. If they are unwelcoming or negative,
Duben seeks another physician.

Treading Lightly

Not all doctors embrace the practice of praying with patients.
Those who do are careful about initiating discussion. Because
people are often reluctant to discuss matters of religion, Dr. Zaks
and other health care providers must walk a fine line between
bringing what they see as a helpful component to their medical
treatment and seriously offending a patient.
Dr. Zaks typically introduces the subject with a new patient
by asking if faith is important. The answer to that question dic-
tates whether the cardiologist will drop the issue or discuss it fir-
ther.
"With some patients you can tell you've crossed the line
while others are open and accepting to such discussions with a
physician," said Dr. Zaks, who is chief medical officer at
Providence and vice president of medical affairs.
Even when doctors and patients pray together, physicians are
mindful that their religious beliefs are likely to be different than
their patients'. Dr. David Nathanson, a surgery oncologist and

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