Download or read book The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation (Classic Reprint) written by Austin O'Malley and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation IN this book is discussed the morality involved in the ordi nary cases of medical homicide and mutilation. Craniotomy has been omitted because this operation on the living child is never morally licit, and when done on the dead fetus it has no moral quality that requires explanation. The articles may seem to he intended for Catholic physicians and Spiritual directors alone, but the desire in writing them was to reach all practitioners, to the end that the Natural Law which binds every man may be observed. Morality is not made such in its fundamental principles by any religious creed, but by the requirements of Divine Order, which finally pre vails no matter what the opposition. Killing and maiming without sufficient extenuation did not become unlawful solely by the establishment of Christianity. Practically, however, physicians who have no religion, or a religion which is so illogical as to pay no attention to dogma, or even to rail at it as obtrusive, necessarily gravitates to the emotional in morality, and the principles of this book will not even interest them. Dogmas are abstract propositions, and all human society rests on abstract propositions. The most vital facts in morality, the basic distinction between crime and all that is virtuous or indifferent morally, is in abstract principle alone, but physicians and pastors who are not trained in philosophy and rational religion cannot appreciate an abstract principle - they are in fluenced only by the concrete. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.