Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics Applied to Informed Consent

Abstract. In 1960, following a specific court case, the Kansas Supreme Court established the obligation for doctors, when performing a surgery or providing treatment, to inform their patients on the risks, the probability of success, possible alternative solutions, and the nature of the medical issue before a patient could consent (Encyclopedia). This is now known as informed consent. A case study on a kidney donation where a donor who is not aware of the risks of the surgery is presented to show why Aristotle’s virtue ethics, which helped create informed consent, is needed for a patient to…