"Evil" Atheist Doctors

The Guardian today published an article titled 'Atheist doctors 'more likely to hasten death''. This is a bit of a shocking headline, as it implies that doctors without religious beliefs are actively harming their patients.

The article itself tells a different story "A patient who wanted their life prolonged at all costs in the event of a terminal illness, or did not want it prolonged, should make sure they had a doctor who was in sympathy with this." This is essentially common sense, it just so happens that atheist doctors seem more likely to put quality of life over sanctity of life (which if they were treating me, I'd be pretty happy about).

Perhaps the thing I find most worrying though is last paragraph: "The most religious doctors were significantly less likely than other doctors to have discussed options at the end of life with their patient." Not discussing these issues with a terminal patient is, in my view, a neglect of responsibility.

Given this, who would you want to treat you?