‘With the help of God, we will’ are the words I uttered while standing in a paediatric ICU side room as a seven-week-old patient was baptised, lying in her mother’s arms.
The chaplain of the hospital had recognised me at handover that morning from an interfaith event they had held not long before, and asked if I could fulfil the parents’ wishes of being a witness to the rite that morning.
Five hours later I stood with my consultant as she declared this baby’s death.
MOLLY CREASER-OGDEN
Faith has its challenges
My Christian faith is a cornerstone to every part of my life, and about 75% of my life is medicine! Medical school was also the place where I met people of all faiths who inspire me in their commitment and devotion. As someone practising the recognised religion of the country I live in, I can see the privilege I have in not facing the oppression and discrimination that my siblings of other faiths face, and yet, being a Christian medical student still comes with difficulties to navigate.
Being able to attend services for significant Holy Days has been a challenge throughout medical school – there is more to Easter than the bank holidays for me, and that’s often not catered to in medical school timetables.
This year it was going to be impossible for me to attend an Ash Wednesday service, which is the first day of Lent and a time for Christians to focus ourselves on the journey towards Easter, to recognise our failings in loving and remember that we too are dust and to dust we shall return. I mentioned this casually to a peer, who immediately offered to swap her twilight shift with me. When it came to helping her attend Jummah a few weeks later, I did the same thing without hesitation.
This solidarity between faiths in medical school was a beautiful relationship to watch across my peer group. No one missed anything important to their faith if we could help it. Regardless of our individual religions, we knew the strength, conviction and support that our faith gave us, and we wanted each other to be able to hold onto it during a degree that challenges you every day and can feel very isolating.
Lack of support
There are many practical interventions that could be offered to medical students to support them to engage with their faith while doing their degree, and all of these could be achieved if medical students were listened to. If we were asked our opinions and thoughts in a system that didn’t fill us with apprehension, knowing we could be reprimanded for disagreeing, or have the dreaded ‘professionalism’ thrown around as a threat.
I watched students in my cohort start engaging with the medical school with optimism and energy, which slowly waned as it became apparent that there was more and more paperwork and meetings and forms to fill in to simply have the privilege of covering your arms in line with NHS guidelines.
We know our worth
A core tenet of my faith is ‘imago dei’, the belief that all are made in the image of God and therefore everyone has inherent dignity and worth. Every interaction with a patient, a colleague, a relative, is an interaction with the Divine and that is how I must treat them.
What I have been so glad to see in this generation of medical students is that we know what we are worth and what we deserve. We do not stand for discrimination and are continuing the role of calling out harmful practice and toxic culture. We expect better from our institutions in how they treat us as students and resident doctors.
I pray that this fight and fire continues, and that those of us with a Christian faith stand with our siblings of marginalised religions. That we recognise the inherent good and God in all of our patients, including the ones that yell slurs at us at 3am in A&E.
I pray, also, for your peace. That we use our faith to work for the best for our patients. That our faith grounds us in our calling to serve. That we see God in the face of all we interact with. That we remember our own worth.
Molly Creaser-Ogden is a foundation year 1 doctor