Case 3. A Martyr of Science

Caius, a physician, in order to test whether the fever commonly called malaria is truly caused by the bites of a certain fly commonly called a mosquito, lived during the summer in a place particularly pestilential near Ostia on the Tiber, with all the precautions necessary to avoid the bites of the said fly, unconcerned about other causes of infection. Afterwards, in order to complete the experiments, in England, where malaria is almost extinct, he exposed himself to the bites of mosquitoes infected with the contagion in Italy, and contracted the disease, rejoicing nevertheless at the discovery of the cause of the fever, at the benefit thereby acquired for mankind, and also at the glory procured for himself. Titius, however, a Catholic, when he had read all these things in the newspapers, asked a confessor whether they had been done lawfully. Hence it is asked:

1. What obligation is there to preserve one’s own life and health?

2. What are the special obligations of physicians?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. What sort of an obligation is there to preserve one’s life and health?

There is a grave obligation of using ordinary means to preserve life and health and of not exposing either to serious and proximate risk without sufficient reason.

This obligation is derived from the Fifth Commandment, which forbids killing in so far as it is a negative precept, and prescribes ordinary care of life and health in so far as it is positive.

2. What are the ethical obligations of doctors?

Doctors, like other professional men, should have the knowledge requisite for the practice of their profession, and they should use at least ordinary care and diligence in that practice. They should use the safer remedies, and they are not allowed to make experiments on living human subjects with danger to life or health.¹ In desperate cases they may use remedies that are only probable if no better can be had.

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. i, p. 596 f.

3. The case. If Caius was practically certain that the bite of mosquitoes is the cause of malaria, he did not commit sin by living during the summer in the pestilential neighborhood of Ostia. He was convinced that he thereby exposed himself to no special risk. In allowing himself to be bitten in England by plague infected insects he voluntarily exposed himself to the morally certain risk of contracting the disease. The reasons given for thus acting are not sufficient to justify him in exposing himself to the certain risk of serious disease. Evil must not be done that good may come. We may not kill one man to save others. However, as malaria is not a very serious disease when the proper remedies are applied in time, Caius may be excused from grave sin, and perhaps even from venial under the circumstances. There is no harm in exposing ourselves to the danger of illness for good reasons.