What is a “medically documented miracle”?
The word miracle is from the Latin mirari, meaning to look at in awe. For me, a medical miracle is an awe-inspiring healing event — a disease that goes away suddenly, unexpectedly and completely. Attempts have been made to define and medically document miracle-type cures. For example, in 1954, the Catholic Church established the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, a panel that includes dozens of experts from the European medical community. These doctors decide whether a cure reported by a person who has visited the healing shrine at Lourdes in southwestern France is an “authentic” miracle, using rigorous criteria, including a permanent remission of the disease. As of 2006, the committee had documented 67 cases. Have any of your patients ever experienced this type of healing? Early in my career, I had an elderly patient with cancer in both lungs that had spread throughout his body. We had no medical therapies for this type of cancer, but during visiting hours, people from his c
