Health services throughout the world do not have enough resources to meet the healthcare needs of all of their citizens. Therefore, some form of rationing within health services is inevitable. Even within healthcare systems in which access to health care is guaranteed— however they are funded—this will mean that some who are ill will not necessarily receive treatment when they need it, if at al...

The paper by Gilbert et al. should be on the table of every politician and National Health Service (NHS) manager in the run up to the general election, when the NHS is at the hustings. They have raised profound moral dilemmas of the internal and external market in their present form, such as the practicalities of distributive justice and the enhancement of autonomy--to which are added the prese...

Ethical considerations from both the clinical and public health perspectives have been used to examine whether it is ethically permissible to mandate the seasonal influenza vaccine for healthcare workers (HCWs). Both frameworks have resulted in arguments for and against the requirement. Neither perspective resolves the question fully. By adding components of justice to the argument, I seek to p...

Educational materials are developed by publishers but educational methods utilizing these instructional materials are selected and implemented by faculty members. This article examines ethical issues in developing and using electronic educational materials designed for healthcare education at the undergraduate level. An ethical faramework called “the four principles with attention to scope” was...

The bioethical principles of patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice or fairness require doctors to disclose their fees before treating patients. The provisions regarding disclosures about fees in the Health Professions Act and National Health Act are in conflict. Those in the National Health Act are likely to be applied by the courts to impose a legal duty on healthcare prac...

To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hunger strike is a common form of protest in prisons and is a potential cause of many types of problems, both for the prison administration and the doctors who care for prisoners who participate in one. Issues of conflict of rights and obligations involved, and how to treat people who are subject to the Administration, which in this case takes the position of guarantor, have created major contr...

To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

GUEST EDITORIAL '… may we live in a world without lawyers and court cases …' (Confucius) Interestingly, by the end of the communist era in China there were only 10 000 lawyers serving the needs of that entire nation. But that did not mean people were without justice. Confucius said a lot of things, and his take on the legal side of life was spot on. Adherence to Confucianism, with the core valu...