A.I. Healing

 

I was hooked by hearing the author on the Freaknomics podcast, Can A.I. Save Your Life?.  As I read the first part of this new book, A Giant Leap, I felt it captured much of my own "informatics" history.  

Sometimes, I feel the need to skip ahead to the last chapter—but this time, I didn’t!  Perhaps that is why the final chapter of Robert Wachter’s new book, A Giant Leap, is so powerful.  In those pages, we find words like "transcend" and "awe" alongside descriptions of healing.  These are the very experiences that have defined the author’s life as a physician. 

It is also true that barriers and misuse of A.I. are realities that will require correction.  Large Language Models (LLMs) are limited by their training and their real-world applications.  These challenges are realistically addressed in this deep dive into the current state of healthcare delivery. 

What became clearer to me is that healing can be seen as a deep connection of shared stories—which is also the foundation of LLMs.  These digital stories are now connected through new tools that can facilitate who we are called to be.  The computer screen and its demands can be managed more efficiently helping to heal the epidemic of iatrogenic disconnections in healthcare and our world. 

Thank you, Dr. Wachter, for sharing your search and your stories of healing and A.I.!

Marvin

References

Can A.I. Save Your Life?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CHP5jKiJjfe1I55YX5S7o

Wachter, R. (2026). A Giant Leap. Penguin Group.

Goodwin L, Prather J, Schlitz K, Iannacchione MA, Hage M, Hammond WE, Grzymala-Busse J. Data mining issues for improved birth outcomes. Biomedical  Sciences Instrumentation 34:291-6, 1997

Hage, M. L. (2023). Can AI be a Healing Agent?

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/08/can-ai-be-healing-agent.html

Healing Traditions

Sightless Among Miracles, Carter Presidential Center

By R.T. Whalen

Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder: How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know ,

 From the Mishkan T’filah, “A Prayer for Shabbat”

I just finished a new book by Mark Topazian, Healing Purpose: Finding Satisfaction in a Healthcare Career.  I have shared many of the same medical experiences and locations of the author.  I was particularly impressed by the extensive notes/references that accompany each chapter and the importance of the “spiritual history”.

There was one chapter in Healing Purpose, Why Jesus Went into Healthcare, that reminded me of another authors similar interest; Health Care, by Amy-Jill Levine in her book, Jesus for Everyone: Not Just Christians.  These authors from different religious traditions describe complementary understandings of Jesus’s healing and how that can be translated into our current cultures.

While at Kijabe Hospital (2011) in Kenya, I questioned how the Somalia population viewed the Christian activities, beliefs and care at this Christian mission hospital.  The answer given was: “God lives there!”.  For me, it has been in the healing witness in other contexts that have brought meaning to the practice of medicine and deepened my faith.

God, give us eyes to see your healing work in this world,

Marvin

References

Wallen R. T. (1995) Sightless Among Miracles, Carter Presidential Center

https://homepages.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/atlanta/carter/carterwallen.html#:~:text=Sightless Among Miracles.

Mishkan T’filah, “A Prayer for Shabbat”

https://www.godwardweb.org/sightlessamongmi.html

Topazian, M. (2025). Healing Purpose: Finding Satisfaction in a Healthcare Career. InterVarsity Press.

Levine, A.-J. (2024). Jesus for Everyone: Not Just Christians. HarperCollins.

Hage, M. L. (2011). Healing on Trial.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/12/healing-on-trial.html

A Healing Birth

Jesus wept.  John 11:35 (NIV)

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 

and there shall be no more death, 

neither sorrow, nor crying, 

neither shall there be any more pain: 

or the former things are passed away

Revelation 21:4 (KJV)

At the beginning of this advent season, it is easy to take a birth for granted.  That reality was challenged by the news of a stillbirth to a dear Kenyan family and community.  Words were inadequate to express our condolences for their loss and the distance we felt from their reality.

The stillbirth news arrived after a “deep dive” into more current theological understanding of the healings of Jesus.  “Stillbirths” are a missing part of that extensive theological review.  Our common language is challenged as to how we describe these “darkness” events. 

This stillbirth was a reminder of the challenge to my understanding of the nature of healing and the promises of advent.  With advent, we are reminded that a new light will appear and of a time when tears are no more.  

May those who mourn this season of advent see the light in another healing birth.  

Marvin

References

And Jesus Wept

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Jesus_Wept

Henriksen, J.-O., & Sandnes, K. O. (2016). Jesus as Healer. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Hage, M. L., Tetel-Hanks, J., & Bushyhead, A. (1992). When the Bough Breaks--the Blalock’s Story. Duke University Medical Center.

Hage, J (2011) “The God that Weeps” Sermon delivered at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church on 7/11/2011

The Arts of Healing

The Women of Montreal

East side stained glass window

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all peoples see his glory. Psalm 97:6 {NIV)

You could easily miss it when you enter the vast space of Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. This stained glass window was one of the first I saw.  I knew it was important but I didn’t know the stories it was telling. 

One interpretation of the stained glass window is that of two critically important women,  St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and Jeanne Mance, bringing education and nursing to the new community of Montreal.  Another interpretation is that we see representation of both religious and secular responses to suffering in the same window.

After returning from that Canadian trip, I was introduced to the book, Becoming by Beholding by Lanta Davis, who demonstrates how ancient icons, mosaics and paintings can act as guides to our current and deepest dilemmas.  It is a powerful response to our short attention spans.  We can with “beholding” develop a deeper understanding of our own stories and struggles. The visualization of whom we “behold” forms the identity of our lives. 

Thanks be to God for the witness of the arts of healing.

Marvin

References:

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Bourgeoys

https://www1.cnd-m.org/en/marguerite-bourgeoys-a-woman-with-a-heart-of-gold/#:~:text=Marguerite's arrival in Ville-Marie,of Mother of the Colony.

Jeanne Mance (1606-1673)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Mance

https://www.cdnmedhall.ca/laureates/jeannemance (See video)

Hage, M.L.(2025) Then and Now

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2025/07/then-now.html

Davis, L (2025) Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation, Baker Publishing

Medical Theology

"Sanctuary"  Elizabeth Clark

AQS QuiltWeek 2025, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Personal Photo 

Scene from “The Pitt” - HBO/Max

The Shema

(A:vi, S: v) “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad 

[Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]

Deuteronomy 6:4 (CJB)

Looking for the intersection of the sacred and science is a challenge to the silos of our culture.  We may find it when we confront our reality as documented in post pandemic fictional series, “The Pitt”, where we see the struggles of caring and learning effective responses to suffering in our world.  

We also may find it in ancient wisdom of Saint Thomas Aquinas as applied to the practice of mental health care in the recent book, “Wayfaring” by Warren Kinghorn.  In his book we find both a critique of the underlying assumptions of the practice of psychiatry and calls for a wider understanding of mental health care.

For me, obstetric care, “accompaniment” and “standing with” are where this expansion is the path to healing.  This “abiding” is found in the practice of hospice care and midwifery.  It is in this journeying together that we find healing.

Thanks to God, for breaking the silos of our lives as we journey together and find sanctuaries in all sorts of holy spaces.

Marvin

n.b. If you watch “The Pitt” be sure to watch it with someone!  It is intense.

References

Reklis, K. Looking for healing in “the pitt”

https://www.christiancentury.org/screen-time/looking-healing-pitt

Zaltzman, L. This Hebrew Prayer in Max’s ‘The Pitt’ Was One of the Most Moving Jewish TV Moments I’ve Ever Seen

https://www.kveller.com/this-hebrew-prayer-in-maxs-the-pitt-was-one-of-the-most-moving-jewish-tv-moments-ive-ever-seen/

Kinghorn, W. (2024). Wayfaring. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Hage, M. L. (2011). Healing Agent Education.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/11/healing-agent-education.html

Hage, M. (2013). A Theology of Medicine.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-theology-of-medicine.html