A physician refuses to order pain medication for a drug addict who has been severely injured in a car accident
When reminded by nurses that pain medication has not been ordered, the physician merely replies that the patient's suffering from the pain of his injuries will build character and that the addicted patient needs to get off drugs. Which of the following ethical theories is the physician using (or misusing)?
a. Consequentialism
b. Communitarianism
c. Deontological ethics
d. Virtue ethics
ANS: D
Virtue ethics emphasizes practical reasoning applied to character development. Although such action by a care provider is paternalistic and unethical on many grounds, the physician may truly be concerned with enabling the injured addict to learn from his experience and possibly develop into a drug-free person.
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