Give credit where it belongs

Being on Facebook, occasionally you see people post things that catch your attention, such as this little number:

Here’s an update on my wonderful son-in-law, GOD has been working his healing hands on him!!!! Everyday since Sunday 3-18 [redacted] has been showing improvement.
This has taken ALL of us to our knees. GOD is good and we are keeping our eyes on him, not what is but, what is to come and that is the “Miricale of GODS Healing in [redacted].”thank-you for the prayers! Love [redacted]

This showed up on my news feed courtesy of one of my other friends making a comment. When I first saw it, I swear my heart stopped for a moment. And no my heart didn’t stop because I was suddenly taken by the reverence to God being shown here. No my heart stopped because of what is lacking from this anecdote.

When you are receiving care in a hospital, there is a class of elite people who will see to your every need while you are there. They will ensure you are as comfortable as possible, and are on call whenever you need them.

They are the nurses.

With the above anecdote, I can guarantee you that nurses have been watching over the patient around the clock with the attending physician checking in periodically for new orders, discussing the vitals and the like. And yet this person feels the need to show great reverence to God without once thanking the people who I can also guarantee are truly responsible for the progress the patient is showing.

When I see anecdotes like the one reproduced herein, I am glad I’m an atheist because I will always make sure that credit goes where it is properly due. Revering God without thanking the nursing staff is an insult to the nursing staff!

Thank the nurses. Thank the attending physicians. They are truly responsible for the care you receive in the hospital. Especially the nurses who have to deal with people at their worst.

If you’re reading this and you are a nurse at a hospital, I want you to know how much I appreciate the service you provide. Nurses provided excellent care to my wife when she was in the hospital in June, and the doctors who performed and the nurses who assisted in her surgery are the reason the surgery went well, and the nurses post-op are the reason her recovery went smoothly.

The nurses deserve the thanks. Not God.

Update: the person mentioned in the quote above passed away on March 30, 2012, a week after this blog post was published.