Facing Diversity

During my first week back at work in the medical/surgical unit after maternity leave, I took care of an Iranian woman who'd delivered a stillborn baby and was transferred to our unit. According to a note on her chart, her husband decided that she shouldn't see the baby. Of course, she was terribly distraught, and my heart went out to her. So before my shift was over, I told her that we had a photograph of her baby and other mementos (including footprints and handprints) that she and her husband could see. The husband, who was visiting at the time, jumped up and motioned me to the hallway. He wanted to see the photograph but he scolded me for letting his wife know about it, saying I should have asked him first—that I evidently didn't understand their culture. What's more, he told me to stop talking with his wife. I left that night without bidding her good-bye, and she was discharged before I returned. Since then, I've heard that this family is suing their doctor. And, from the way he acted, I'm a little concerned that the husband might try to make trouble for me. Was I wrong to intervene?