Just a few words because some people still think people having issues with the Healer or Lay Healer is because of their passive role in combat.
This is NOT the case with my group. As I mentioned, some (well, at least two) of my players have no issues with playing a support character, with no utility in combat. Their main issue is that the Healer and Lay Healer have all of their base spell lists devoted about one single focus: healing. One of them used to play a Houri, whose spell lists may be useful in social, information gathering, infiltration, assassination, con, investigation, and more situations… though not much in combat. A Healer? Only in healing situations, and only for healing.
I'm a bit annoyed by jdale's summarising about how people not liking the Healer/Lay Healer as considering "healers aren't fun" (though I think I understand his POV), as to me it implies such people are just merely very combat-focused and unable to play any profession not combat-focused. From my experience, even as a GM, it's better (RM2-wise) for have a pure or hybrid spell caster take the Arcane list "Arcane Healing" than to devote six whole spell lists to healing. But, once again, I'm playing RM2, where the Healer has one WHOLE SPELL LIST, "Transferring Ways", that can be replaced by one single background option (and more, since the option is actually more powerful), "Spatial skills"! Hard to make the Healer popular in my group…
From what I can rdanhenry's post, mayhap the Healer could have as easily or ever more easily his spell lists than a semi (Paladin or Monk) would, so these at least wouldn't be any longer hard concurrents. But, compared to other pure or hybrid spell users who have their six base lists dedicated to different matters, he still has the short end of the stick, as he still has to devote his to the same matter.
Anyway, to add to the discussion, since the Healer is health-focused, it could be interesting to keep him in this way whilst giving him more options than pure healing by giving him injury/health buffs, such as disease protection (you may reroll or are immune against diseases for some time), poison protection, HPs buff (temporary HPs), critical resistance (temporarily lowering the levels of criticals), ignoring injury effects (such as penalty, acting even when HPs are below 0, or when an organ is destroyed), fear or lowering mind-effect protection, mind-affecting protection, which are not even "new" spell effects but exist in some spell lists in some RM version at some time. Giving him access to herb spells could work as well, though some may complain it infringes on the Animist's field of expertise (but then, as the Animist's list is a base list anyway, so, except if a group also as an Animist mayhap a less powerful version of "Herb Mastery could work?)
Analysis spells would fit him as well, allowing him to determine the health of a given target, his old injuries, current diseases, strength and weaknesses, physical and psychological.
In other words, don't make the Healer just someone that heals, and that's all, but turn him into an expert in anything body and mind health condition related matters, as well as every substance that may affect them. I mean, you know you should consult your pharmacist with unknown mushrooms, don't you? Because he knows about which one are poisonous. Because health experts supposedly know about poisonous substances and all? Well, shouldn't the medical expert that is the Healer has also have intensive knowledge about diseases, poisons, and other dangerous or lethal materials?
…of course, technically speaking, the Healers, because they know so well about how the body works, how it may be injured and how an injury may affect it, are in fact the most lethal people, for it means they know exactly where to hit, how to hit, or how to poison someone according to his body condition, but, heh. Crime novels would usually make them the best (worst?) culprits after all, as not only would they know the exact way to poison someone according to his condition (allergies, etc.), they'd also know how long it takes for the substance to be eliminated from the body, which effects could pass for "natural" causes, how to get said poison from natural sources, etc. :p