Abstract

Ethical issues have always played a significant role in healthcare. Today, their relevance is even more critical as healthcare organizations contemplate the potential of public-private partnerships to bring private sector efficiency into the public healthcare system. Faced with rising health expenditures driven by changing demographics, epidemiological trends, rising incomes and costly new pharmaceuticals and technology, hospitals are struggling to uphold their mandate to provide insured health services to beneficiaries of provincial medicare insurance plans.