Rev: I think that FF suggested this--- it's a matter of the intent of the 'healer' . Medical doctors are usually trying to heal their patients and sometimes our modern knowledge is not enough, or the drugs we need make us ill, are ineffective, or, in some countries they are too expensive, and the patient dies. But the intent had been to heal not harm. I truly believe that some faith healers are in this category too, they believe that their alternative treatments are superior to modern drugs. Often of course they aren't. There is nothing wrong with adults following this path but when children die from preventable disease the parents are culpable.
Then there are the miserable frauds who strip the desperate and deluded of their money and eventually of their hope. Their intent was always primarily to enrich themselves.
As to prayer. It often is a comfort for believers, even if they are seemingly not answered. Don't forget that for a believer death is the time of reunion with people they love and the start of an ever-lasting life unburdened by the troubles of their lives. Who would not want that?
