My friend wanted to separate healing from the holy. Her patient had no such problem, having recognized that the 2 have been entwined from the beginning of time. It is only in the last few centuries that medicine has attempted to transform itself from the sacred to the scientific. While we may have convinced ourselves that we no longer deal in the mystical, it is obvious that the public still sees divine guidance in much that we do. In Europe, healing was the work of the church.
Some patients think it still is.
For healing is a sign of divinity, a miracle. Sure, there are other miracles, but one doesn't get beatified for them. No one has suggested that Bill Gates is in line for sainthood for the miracle that is Microsoft, but Mother Theresa is most certainly in the running. The outcome of all this excessive sanctity is a heavy altruism that is intrinsic to medicine's value system. We work very hard to prove we are worthy.