Hall Daniel E
Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
J Relig Health. 2020 Oct;59(5):2283-2287. doi: 10.1007/s10943-020-01072-x.
From his perspective as a general surgeon, Episcopal priest and Medical Director for High Risk Populations and Outcomes at a large health-care system, the author identifies an unrecognized problem that clergy were banned from visiting parishioners in most hospitals across the country during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic-a situation that persists in many contexts. The author explains why pastoral visitation should be considered essential care-especially at a time of crisis-and encourages hospital administrators across the country to clarify policies to welcome community clergy as essential personnel, but to do so with prudent procedures that mitigate risk to the community and to the visiting clergy. Given the fact that most hospitals in this country were founded by religious organizations and still carry the imprint of that founding in their names, it would be tragic for these very same hospitals to cut patients off from their religious communities precisely at the time they need them most.
从他作为一名普通外科医生、圣公会牧师以及一家大型医疗保健系统中高危人群与治疗结果医学主任的角度来看，作者发现了一个未被认识到的问题：在新冠疫情高峰期，全国大多数医院都禁止神职人员探访教区居民——这种情况在许多情况下仍然存在。作者解释了为什么牧师探访应被视为基本护理——尤其是在危机时刻——并鼓励全国各地的医院管理人员明确政策，欢迎社区神职人员作为基本工作人员，但要通过谨慎的程序来降低对社区和来访神职人员的风险。鉴于该国大多数医院是由宗教组织创办的，且其名称仍带有创办时的印记，这些医院恰恰在患者最需要的时候将他们与宗教团体隔离开来，这将是一件悲剧的事。
