Quote Originally Posted by truthpaste View Post
I've just found that story and it's obviously constructed for the benefit of readers who would rather God didn't exist.

Many scientific studies have been conducted re Prayer over the years, this is one such example:-

In 1988, the third study, published in the Southern Medical Journal, yielded strikingly positive results, at least in some measures of patient outcomes (although not overall). Dr. Randolph Byrd, a cardiologist, oversaw a double-blind study of intercessory prayer in which 393 coronary-care-unit (CCU) patients agreed to participate. “Born-again” intercessors were given a prayer script to guide prayers, and each intercessor was given an assigned patient's first name, diagnosis, and general condition. Intercessors prayed for the quick recovery, prevention of complications and death, and any other areas that they felt might be useful to their assigned patients. “No one—not patients, staff, or Byrd—knew who was being prayed for and who wasn't. Byrd found that patients who were the subjects of prayer … needed fewer antibiotics, experienced a lower percentage of congestive heart failure, and were less likely to develop pneumonia. [After analyzing the data, Byrd] concluded that ‘intercessory prayer to the Judeo-Christian God has a beneficial therapeutic effect in patients admitted to the CCU.’”

Article:NLM provides access to scientific literature.
This study shows that prayers have what is effectively a placebo effect. It did not claim that prayers worked in the sense you imply. Nor could it of course because praying to a non-existent entity is never likely to succeed.