January 2006 | Back to Table of Contents
Pulse
Faith and Practice
Here’s how two family physicians are integrating their Christian beliefs with their medical practice in a time when faith and science often seem to be at odds.
Ruth Bolton, M.D., likes to say she “came out of the closet” in 1997. That’s when the 53-year-old family physician gave up her academic title at the University of Minnesota and hung out her shingle as a Christian family physician, founding the Soteria Family Health Center in Plymouth. “Soteria” is a Greek word meaning both “to heal” and “to save.”
Frustrated for years that her values often seemed to conflict with what she calls the “values-neutral” emphasis in university medical schools, Bolton left her position as unit director of the family medicine residency program in part so that she could freely express her core beliefs. “We came out of the closet to say that we want to at least tell people that we’re going to practice with Christian values.”
That faith in Jesus is front and center in the mission of the nonprofit clinic and in the minds of its staff is unmistakable. In the waiting room are paintings of Christ, a wooden prayer-request box, and a framed version of the Hippocratic Oath that states that the physicians in this clinic will guard the sanctity of life. The center’s mission statement—“to communicate the life-changing message of Jesus Christ by providing competent, compassionate health care according to the principles of good health as revealed in the Bible”—is printed on clinic brochures. And the clinic’s providers, including seven family physicians, have all signed a statement of faith that includes belief in the concept of the Trinity, the Bible as the sole authority for faith and conduct, and Jesus as the means to salvation.
Soteria is unabashedly Christian. Yet, Bolton says that in many ways she practices medicine as she always has. She rehearses her schedule from a previous day to show the range of routine issues she deals with—a woman with neurological losses, another with warts, an executive needing a physical, a baby boy needing to be circumcised. But Bolton and the other physicians at Soteria feel free to do more than write prescriptions or do procedures.
For example, doctors at Soteria pray with patients facing surgery. They might refer to scripture while counseling about a health issue. And the advice they give often comes from their understanding of the Bible as well as their medical training. “There are a lot of straight-up health issues that are spiritual issues, and spiritual choices then that affect them,” Bolton says.
She counsels teenagers to be celibate until marriage and monogamous after, arguing that this is in their best interest healthwise. “I think we can support that with statistics that they’ll never get AIDS, hepatitis B from a sexual transmission, or human papilloma virus,” she says. “Medically, it’s in their best interest to choose that kind of lifestyle.”
When the issue is an unwanted pregnancy, Bolton and her staff believe there’s a life at stake. She says staff will do what they can, including giving an ultrasound, to show the woman that she’s carrying a living human being. That, Bolton says, is done to “teach them what we believe to be the truth.”
Soteria, which is tax-exempt and which Bolton considers a mission although it is not affiliated with any particular denomination, serves patients from as far away as Fairmont and western Wisconsin. Most, but not all, are Christians. In fact, it serves a number of Jewish Russian immigrants.
Bolton, who also is president of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, a professional medical association with about 17,000 members, says having an M.D. and being a Christian give her a “platform to stand on” among some Christians. It also gives her clout when challenging some churches’ teachings that can actually compromise a person’s health. She personally has cared for women who, in the name of being submissive, have endured abuse by husbands. She describes another patient disabled by depression after someone from her church told her that if she were a better Christian, prayed more, and read the Bible more she wouldn’t need to take her antidepressants. “I think the church needs care, and we’re here to provide that so that they are healthy and not involved in some of this sick, demeaning stuff that occurs in the name of Christ,” she says.
Deeds Not Words
In 1978, John Lundgren, M.D., joined Shoreview Family Physicians precisely because he felt his own Christian values matched those of the others in the group. In 1984, the physicians put those values into a formal mission statement that included glorifying God as well as running a just and profitable business. “We just wanted our medical practice to flow out of where our hearts were and our values,” says Lundgren, now the clinic’s lead physician.
In the 1990s, when the clinic became part of the Allina Hospitals and Clinics system, that mission statement was replaced by Allina’s, which of course does not include mention of God. But the “culture” at the Shoreview site has remained quite Christian, Lundgren says.
“All of the doctors see it as a ministry and way to honor Christ and treat people as Jesus did and see each individual in the image of God,” Lundgren says. “But we don’t put a big cross out in front of the clinic because we are respectful of the organization and we treat people from every faith and world view.”
The clinic has a higher-than-average percentage of Christian patients. But, Lundgren notes, this may be because the area surrounding the clinic has many Christian institutions, including Bethel University and Northwestern College.
“We want the care that we give to be the primary voice of our faith,” Lundgren says. “We would hope that the respect you receive, the thoroughness, the sense that you’re a whole person and not just a sore throat, would be very clear in nonverbal ways.”
The Shoreview clinic’s approach has influenced its parent organization, according to Bruce McCarthy, M.D., chief medical officer at Allina Medical Clinic. Lundgren has shared with other Allina physicians the clinic’s strategies for managing staff. For example, his physicians attend support staff meetings to hear their issues.
Although McCarthy emphasizes that the Shoreview clinic can’t discriminate against patients because they are not Christian or against non-Christians seeking jobs there, he thinks the Christian physicians’ values improve the quality of the working environment at the clinic and the care they provide. “They take pride in their practice. ... They work to develop personal relationships with their staff. They work to make sure that the staff’s job is as good as it can be,” he says. “These values, which are not necessarily limited to one belief system, are contributing to system improvement,” McCarthy says. The Shoreview site consistently has one of the highest employee-satisfaction scores within Allina, and Lundgren notes that most of the clinic’s providers score high on patient-satisfaction measures.
When service to patients is tied to core beliefs, McCarthy says, physicians are energized and find meaning in their practice. “I think this sustains physicians in what is a difficult job.”
—Carmen Peota