Ethical Issues In The Wesleyan Quadrilateral

As Christian nurses, it is important to apply faith to the dilemmas faced during practice. One useful way to apply faith to practice is the use of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral has four aspects including reason, tradition, experiences, and scripture (United Methodist Church, 1991). These four aspects will be discussed and applied to the ethical issues associated with CAM therapies. The first part of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral that will be discussed is the aspect reason. As discussed within this paper, CAM therapies have ethical issues. Despite popular and growing use, there are issues with the safety and efficacy, regulation, and insufficient research on CAM therapies. This is very concerning considering that physicians

CAM therapies have been used as far back as ancient Egypt, China, India, and Sumeria (Larson, 2017). Christianity supports holistic healing encompassing physical, emotional, spiritual, moral, and relational healing (Stewart et al, 1998). Christianity and alternative medicine, both respond negatively to healing that focuses on physical and psychological needs at the expense or exclusion of spiritual needs. CAM therapies such as herbal and homeopathic remedies are not necessarily either supported or opposed by Christianity (Stewart et al, 1998). Christians hold that despite other ways that may be used to help treat illness and maintain optimal health, they need to turn to God for healing (Stewart et al, 1998). Ultimately when Christians hand over their illness to God, he will guide them with the right and safest medicine or therapy that will help them

As a nutrition minor, this student is well aware of CAM therapies. She knows many people who utilize all different types of CAM therapies. Specifically, she is familiar with herbal remedies. Within her studies, she took a class that focused on complementary and alternative therapies. In this class, there was a discussion on many types of therapies used around the world. The class focused on a lot of herbal and homeopathic remedies used across the country. Within the class, this student learned that there may be positive effects of these herbal and homeopathic remedies. These remedies and treatment do have the potential for good. But despite this good, there are a lot of risks that can accompany these remedies. She learned that these remedies still lack research. But one of the main things she took from the class is that one needs to be cautious with herbal remedies. There are some dangerous side effects that can occur. There is also a risk due to the lack of regulation. Herbal products purchased are typically not regulated by the FDA, which poses an ethical dilemma. The safety of the products is in question. With this in mind, the student understands that these herbal products can be beneficial, but also understands that before incorporating into the medical field there needs to be research that proves the safety and efficacy of the