Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity

Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity
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Healthcare Provider and Faith Diversity
Healthcare providers worldwide are obligated to attend to all their patients without discrimination or victimization based on an individual’s race, age, gender or religion. The healthcare code of ethics dictates that all medical facilities should provide quality care to all patients without prejudice. Healthcare providers encounter people with different belief systems on a daily basis. Some of these religions do not advocate for medical treatment of the consumption of medications, and as a result, patients who ascribe to these religious sects are usually very adamant at the prospect of seeking medical attention. The onus, therefore, lies with the health care providers who have to ensure that for a holistic medical assessment, the scientific medical treatment takes into consideration a patient’s religious faith and beliefs. The research paper, therefore, seeks to examine the similarities and differences pertaining the dissemination of healthcare under the Christianity and Buddhism belief systems taking into account that effective healing only occurs when the body and spirit are balanced and connected.
Similarities between Christianity and Buddhism in respect to medical care
Despite the differences in religious beliefs between Christianity and Buddhism, the two sects are also very similar to the provision of quality care. Both religions have established a great emphasis on the importance of various religious practices in the healing process (Pinnock, 2007). For example, prayer and meditation are considered very significant components in enabling one to get well. Patients who have strong faiths in the two religions and ascribe to persistent prayer and meditation usually believe that they are on the fast track to healing. To the Buddhists, patients who meditate in the course of their treatment undergo less suffering and are instilled with confidence and strength to persevere all the pain they are experiencing. On the other hand, the Christians who perform both meditation and prayer gain so much hope and confidence that God will see them through the treatment process.
Furthermore, both Christianity and Buddhism have the same concepts and perceptions regarding death in that it’s the beginning and not the end of life (Pinnock, 2007). Buddhist patients believe that when one dies, he/she is reborn and starts a new life free from the sickness and health problems that plagued them before their demise. These health complications are perceived as stages that everyone must pass through in the course of their lives. Christian patients believe in eternal life after death in heaven but only to those individuals who lived their lives following the teachings of God (Carter-LeCompte, 2005). Also, both these religious sects are connected through the moral precepts and commandments that offered guidance in the choices of medical care. For instance, in both religions, abortion is prohibited, and therefore patients who conform to the two sects would not ideally resort to it willingly. The primary reason that necessitated the condemnation of abortion by both religions stemmed from the firm belief that only ...