Religious fight death the hardest

People with strong religious beliefs appear to want doctors to do everything they can to keep them alive as death approaches, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports.

Researchers followed 345 patients with terminal cancer up until their deaths. Those who regularly prayed were more than three times more likely to receive intensive life-prolonging care than those who relied least on religion.

However, because aggressive end-of-life cancer care has been associated with a poor quality of death and caregiver bereavement adjustment, intensive end-of-life care might represent a negative outcome for religious copers.

"These findings merit further discussion within religious communities, and consideration from those providing pastoral counsel to terminally ill patients with cancer," wrote lead researcher Holly Prigerson.

Update: Edward Current — Why Christians Fight To Stay Alive