Acute Cases in Moral Medicine

The trained nurse holds a position of highest trust and responsibility in the professional world of to-day. She enters our homes at a most critical time when the lives of our loved ones hang in the balance. Her responsibilities involve loyalty to the physician or surgeon, faithful and devoted care of the patient, the utmost regard for the sacredness of the home and its intimate relations and confidences, and absolute fidelity to her own conscience. This fourfold relationship demands a correct knowledge of the sacred principles of sound morality and the conscientious application thereof to the daily tasks of the trained nurse. The truest measure of her service to humanity will ever be found in her fidelity to her conscience and to the sacred laws of God. The real value of the present publication lies in its splendid presentation of the fundamental principles of Christian morality bearing on the duties of the trained nurse. The author has accomplished his task in a most admirable manner, and I take pleasure in recommending this book as a text for our schools of nursing. Those whose duty it is to care for the sick, doctors, nurses and others, are called upon frequently to meet perplexing emergencies. It is the purpose of this book to mark out a safe line of conduct, brief and readily accessible in those ever-recurring cases in which the rights of others are directly concerned. Man's rights are two-fold, temporal and spiritual, corresponding to the twofold order of which he is a being. The foundation of his temporal rights is his right to life; chief among his spiritual rights is the right of religion. It is with certain phases of these two rights that this treatise deals. The treatment naturally falls into two distinct parts. The first part concerns itself with the respective rights of the mother and her unborn child, adding under the caption "Special Cases" certain ethical directions on matters of practical moment. The second part, assuming the recognition of our duty to those in dire need of spiritual help, treats of the ways in which this help may be accorded. In neither part is there any attempt at argumentation; there is, however, ample reference to authoritative works which discuss at length the conclusions based upon established principles. The aim throughout has been to give a definite answer to difficulties and in every instance the conclusion herein accepted in response to a moot question, is in accord with solid principles of morality, often the embodiment of a positive divine enactment, and, not infrequently, the decisive expression of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.