Blanket bans on treatment: conflict in healthcare resourcing

Patient autonomy. Legal and ethical issues in the post-anaesthetic care unit

The need for patient autonomy, empowerment and choice has become central to health reforms. Confronted with the prospects of such perpetual changes, respect for patient autonomy has to be tempered with paternalistic beneficence. This article discusses the difficulties encountered when applying patient autonomy within the post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU), evaluating ethical, legal and professional issues.

Allocating scarce resources in a publicly funded health system: ethical considerations of a Canadian managed care proposal

In the Canadian health care system, the Government is responsible for allocating scarce resources in a fair and equitable manner. A proposal to implement managed care as a method of reimbursing physicians in Alberta, Canada, needs careful ethical consideration, because physicians are not well prepared, and should not be asked, to make the resulting difficult allocation decisions. The Government must continue to be held responsible for ensuring that all citizens have equal access to necessary medical services, and we must find ways to encourage the public to become more involved in deciding how resources are best allocated. Health professionals other than physicians must take an interest and enter into this debate.