An Orthodox Jew and former petty officer in the US Navy said his civil rights were violated after a chaplain and officials at a Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, tried to convert him to Christianity while he was under the VA's care.
David Miller, 46, who is on full disability, said in an interview that his physician at the VA hospital told him last week to go home and pray or meditate in place of using medication to relieve the pain he was experiencing from kidney stones. When Miller complained to VA staffers that his physician suggested he turn to God to treat his medical condition and refused to prescribe pain medication, VA officials provided him with a new doctor.
"My doctor said that since I am a religious Jew, I should try prayer or meditation to deal with the pain," Miller said. "I was shocked that a medical doctor would make such a suggestion. I immediately raised hell and was assigned a new physician."...
Miller dresses in the traditional attire required for Orthodox Jews. He started receiving treatment for a heart condition and kidney stones at the Iowa City VA hospital after moving back to his hometown two years ago. Since then, he said, a chaplain on duty at the hospital has tried on numerous occasions to convert him to Christianity.
'The first two visits by the Protestant (Assembly of God) chaplain were all about trying to convert me, trying to convince me that I needed Jesus, that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews too,' Miller said. 'My medical records clearly indicate that I am Jewish. However, with each admission, I have informed the nursing staff both verbally and in writing that I require kosher food and that I do not wish to be visited by anyone from the chaplain's office. I requested they contact my rabbi, and I provided them with his name and telephone number. Despite these instructions, during all three of my hospitalizations, I have been denied kosher food and have had to endure my entire hospitalizations without eating.'
The chaplain, Miller said, provided him with a copy of a scripture from the New Testament, despite Miller's protests that he be left alone.
Is this our country? What is going on?
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