Medical Council Report Addressed to the Institute’s Board of Directors

In this extract, Doctor Pinsonneault warns the Directors of the Institute about the role that the Grey Nuns take in scientific and medical affairs:

Minutes of the Radium Institute’s medical council meeting held on September 7, 1948, written by Dr. Pinsonneault.

The Medical Council has the privilege of submitting to Directors the following assessments and suggestions:

REPORTS ON THE MEDICAL COUNCIL AND INTERNAL MANAGEMENT 

For nearly a year now, there is no longer any collaboration between the medical council and the internal management. The Radium Institute seems to be headed towards the type of hospital where nuns have full power. We do not mean to discuss here the pros and cons of this tendency. That is for the directors to decide. However, it is our belief that if the Institute aspires to become more than a refuge for the incurable, its activities must be led by medical professionals. We do not mean to create a delicate situation between the board and the community, and have never in the past taken any action that would compromise the good relations between directors, the medical staff and the nuns. We simply believe that it would be appropriate given the circumstances to request that the Mother Superior comply with the resolution of October 30, 1945, regarding the attributions of the scientific and medical council, and as such insist that she lets the council decide on all further scientific and medical initiatives and measures.