June 28, 2009
Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8116497.stm
Doctors are demanding that NHS staff be given a right to discuss spiritual issues with patients as well as being allowed to offer to pray for them.
Medics will tell the British Medical Association conference this week that staff should not be disciplined as long as they handle the issue sensitively.
The doctors said recent cases where health workers had got into trouble were making people fearful.
But atheists said it was wrong to mix religion and health care.
The doctors, who are behind the motion being discussed at the Liverpool conference, are unhappy about the guidance that has been issued.