"He may have even gone home any prayed for me on his own. But he did NOT offer to pray for me, or with me. I can only assume that this is because he understood his job a lot better than the nurse in question, and understood where the boundaries are"

So-o-o-o-o.........praying for someone without their knowledge (and therefore without their permission) is OK, but asking their permission to pray for them is not OK?

Sounds arse-about-face to me, Ruth. Surely asking openly and with honesty has to be preferable to sneaking around and praying in secret, which smacks of dishonesty.