Religion in Medicine

The purpose of this treatise is: 1) to draw attention to the presence of situations arising within medical practice in which religious beliefs play an important role. 2) to emphasize the fact that most students and many doctors are given insufficient training in such matters, which are of considerable import to a fair percentage of the public. 3) to provide a few examples of what is meant by a religio-medical situation, and a bibliography for further exploration by the initiate in such matters. The stimulus to think along these lines stemmed from the examples set me by my erstwhile 'chiefs', Sir James Patterson-Ross, Professor Sir E. F. Scowen and Sir Stanley Davidson. Further encouragement came while I was in Edinburgh from the Reverend Dr. H.C. Whitley of St. Giles and his brother counterparts Msgr. Quill and the Reverend A. Brysh-White. In Australia, Bishop E.H. Burgmann of Canberra gave me the benefit of his legendary experience and passed me on to Father Michael Scott of Newman College, Professor D. McCaughey of Ormond College and Mr. Ben Gurewicz in Melbourne. The Reverend Granger Westberg of the Lutheran ministry in the United States infused his enthusiasm into the venture and this, with an intellectual commentary from Professor B. Hamnett of the State University of New York, along with the constructive critique volunteered by members of the local Baha'i community, tidied up many loose ends. In respect to the actual page-by-page construction I must mention my wife and Professor G. Bolton of the University of Western Australia who turned my thoughts into reality. My gratitude to these and many other people of distinction and industry can never be satisfactorily expressed. I hope they will accept my efforts to interpret or to pass on their humane counsel as part payment.

John Dawson arrived as a 10 pound baby in his mother’s bed on March 7, 1929. His father, a solicitor-coroner, and his mother, a physical education teacher and national athlete, saw to my early education beginning at three years of age. I was away at a British ＂prep＂ school when Nazi bombs and bullets started to fall. At this point, father gathered my mother, I, and two sisters and shipped us to USA and Canada. I have been fortunate to have been published in medical journals, and involved in national guidelines, but this is the first book. During this life I met many religions and many doctors and these visits form the basis for this book.