So much of this, if not all, is case-by-case basis. If one wants
   to go extreme and say, "either medical treatment *or* prayer"
   well, for the majority of either side, it's ridiculous. To say,
   "I don't want your prayer at all!" is ridiculous, although not
   as ridiculous as, "I refuse ALL modern medical treatment". Heck,
   even the Amish, who avoid contact with the English and handle
   most medical emergencies themselves, WILL resort to hospital
   care when absolutely necessary. Seems like a reasonable
   compromise. Then again, they have bad teeth and do pullings
   instead of dentists, but maybe they should cut down on the apple
   pies. Whatever. So, once you leave the obvious extremes, you
   have narrower margins. Let's go chemo vs radiation. It depends.
   My mother's best friend for years is one of the longest
   survivors of thyroid cancer. She's one of quite literally a
   handful (less than 5 last I heard) that had their treatments in
   the late 1970s and are still around and fine. In her case, it
   was radiation-only, no chemo. Does that mean that chemo is bad?
   No. Just a case of someone who didn't use it and it worked out
   for. She also prayed a lot being a devout Catholic. Now, to me,
   I wouldn't say, "Oh, she prayed and therefore it cured her",
   just as I wouldn't say radiation only cured her. But I can say
   she didn't do chemo. Correlation? Yes. Causation? No. Would I
   say that prayer did nothing? No, I can't say that. Some people
   can say that - that's their choice, but I don't know. I was
   raised to believe in the "power of positive thinking", so I'm a
   product of my environment as