Informed consent in the ethics of responsibility as stated by Emmanuel Levinas

In this paper we analyze some of the major difficulties of informed consent (IC). We consider insufficient to base IC on the principle of autonomy. We must not forget that the patient may be in a situation of extreme vulnerability and the good doctor should assume a degree of commitment and responsibility with his/her decisions. Our aim is to introduce the ethics of responsibility of Levinas in practice and theory of IC in order to generate a beneficent medical practice in which the supervision and overseeing of the patient do not undermine his/her autonomy.