The futility of prayer, Part 1

In this “What I'm really thinking” column (accessed 20.11.11), a terminally ill patient writes: “I can count my real friends on the two fingers that I'd like to raise to the rest of them”:

Then there's, “But I pray for you every day.” Every day? Does your compassionate God not tell you that he's heard your prayers before, to stop repeating yourself, get up off your knees, pick up the phone and talk to me instead?