Faith and the Medical Profession By Guest Blogger Wendy S. Marcus

Thank you, Seekerville, for hosting me on the 21st stop of my blog tour to promote my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, When One Night Isn't Enough. Today I’ve chosen to chat about faith and the medical profession.

Dictionary.com defines faith as:

1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. Belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. Belief in god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

Wow! This post turned out to be a lot harder to write than I’d anticipated. At this point I’ve written enough words to be finished. Unfortunately, I’ve deleted most of them. The problem is I’d had in mind what I wanted to write about. But after doing some research on the topic of ‘faith and the medical profession’ I realize there’s so much more going on that I hadn’t originally considered.

I’d planned to focus on the faith of medical professionals.

But when I did a Google search for ‘faith and the medical profession’ I came up with links to people who have lost faith in the medical profession, and links for faith healing and claims that people who profess faith in a higher power are generally in better health.

When I did a Google search for ‘do doctors and nurses have faith’ I came up with links addressing the questions of whether doctors and nurses should share their faith with patients and whether they should pray with/offer to pray for their patients or stick to scientific facts?

And when I did a Google search for ‘medical professionals faith in God’ I came up with links touting faith trumps supposed medical norms and God works through the medical profession.

I was about to give up. After scanning dozens of articles I couldn’t find anything to substantiate my theory that regardless of belief or religious affiliation, the majority of medical professionals have faith.

Then I stumbled upon this quote:

Faith and knowledge lean largely upon each other in the practice of medicine. ~Peter Mere Latham

Can I get a Halleluiah?!

Because this is what I’d intended to write about. You see, health care practitioners are taught scientific facts and proven techniques and procedures to use in caring for their patients. I’m not aware of any credible medical/nursing school that would encourage a doctor/nurse to stand around and have faith that a higher power would intervene to clear the airway of a choking patient. No. We’re taught to act. ABC. Evaluate the patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation. Alert the emergency responders. Administer CPR.

And yet, under the broad definition of faith above, we still have faith. In our skills and the skills of our colleagues. In the knowledge we performed to the best of our abilities and did all we could do, regardless of the outcome. In the possibility there is a higher power at work.

Why else would patients expected to fully recover die unexpectedly and patients who shouldn’t have survived the night, live and heal and return to their normal level of function?

I believe I can state, with some certainty, that every medical professional has had patients who have tested their faith and patients who have reaffirmed it.

So…what does all this have to do with my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, When One Night Isn't Enough? Absolutely nothing. But at each stop on my blog tour I try to do something a little different. And while tossing around some ideas about what I, a Jewish nurse, might write for a blog hosted by Christian writers and frequented by fans of inspirational romance, this is what I came up with. And since my hostess, Tina, liked the idea, here we are.


Here’s a blurb about When One Night Isn't Enough:

Nurse Ali Forshay has found the perfect man for her. Dependable. Routine. Boring. Exactly what she wants to ensure a quiet, stable and anonymous life. Then his friend, Dr. Jared Padget, shows up and goodbye fairytale ending. The man’s a schmoozer. A womanizer. A woo-a-woman-into-bed-using-any-means-necessary kind of man just like her father. And Ali wants nothing to do with him. But he’s so tempting. Thank goodness his temporary assignment at Madrin Memorial is over, and he’s heading out of town.

If only he hadn’t shown up at girls’ night out on the eve of his departure. If only he hadn’t come back when he’d promised to stay away…



If you’d like to learn more about me or read an excerpt (appropriate for everyone), please visit my website: http://WendySMarcus.com.

If you liked the excerpt, When One Night Isn't Enough, is available for purchase here:

Amazon U.S.
Amazon UK
Mills and Boon Aus
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Or Twitter
Or Goodreads


So, what do you think about the balancing act between faith and medicine? Or if you’d rather discuss Harlequin Medical Romance, I’m up for that, too. Have you ever read one? If so, what’d you think? Are you a fan of medical drama on television? Medical romances are similar, but they are not all set in hospitals. Please let me know if you’d like to be entered into the drawing to win a copy of the 2in1 UK edition of my book which includes a complete novel by Janice Lynn!



Wendy S. Marcus lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband, two of her three children, and a much loved Bichon Frise named Buddy. A nurse by trade, Wendy has her master’s degree in health care administration. After years of working in the medical profession, Wendy has taken a radical turn to writing hot contemporary romance with strong heroes, feisty heroines, and lots of laughs. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and blogging/e-mailing/tweeting with her online friends. To learn more about Wendy visit her website, http://www.WendySMarcus.com.

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Please note, you must let us know if you want to be entered in the drawing for Wendy's debut Harlequin Medical Romance, When One Night Isn't Enough (adult content) or let us know if you'd like to be entered in the drawing for a $10.00 Amazon gift card that Seekerville is giving away to support Wendy's book launch. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.