Wasted Lives (1923)

Randolph Adams, a medical student, and his friend, Ned Hastings, have lost their way while on a hunting trip in the north. In a cabin which they enter by chance, Adams' medical skill is called upon to save a sick child. In response to Noah Redstone, the master of the cabin's, question, "Why do you go about killing things when you can spend your time saving human lives?" a change comes over him, and realizing the thrill of being able to relieve suffering, he decides to devote his life to the work. Later he enters the Red Cross service in France,leaving the children's hospital he has erected in the care of a friend. He is reported dead, and his wife is about to accept Hastings' offer of marriage when Adams appears on the scene, having spent some time in a hospital abroad recovering from an injury. Just at the moment his mother is pronounced dead from an automobile accident. But refusing to give her up without effort, he hurriedly puts a new respiratory invention to work and succeeds in saving her life. The story closes with a happy reunion.