Table 1 Summary of the ethical issues concerning cardiac report cards (adapted from Nast S, Richard SA, Martin DK. Ethical issues related to cardiac report cards. Can J Cardiol. Mar 1 2004;20(3):325–328.)
From: An ethical framework for cardiac report cards: a qualitative study
Ethical issue | Description |
|---|---|
Quality | •Quality operationalizes the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence |
•Report cards may improve quality of care through external pressure from an informed public | |
•Report cards may impede improvements to quality by generating anger and defensiveness | |
Informed Consent | •Informed consent operationalizes the ethical principle of autonomy |
•To make health care decisions, patients need and want information about their medical options | |
•Report cards have the potential to provide this information and thus facilitate informed consent | |
Equity | •Equity operationalizes the ethical principle of justice |
•Health equity between regions is an important consideration in publicly funded health systems | |
•Report cards must address policy makers to affect regional inequities in health care | |
Legitimacy | •Legitimacy operationalizes the ethical principle of justice, in this case deliberative forms of democratic justice |
•Report card authors must ensure that report cards are and perceived to be legitimate | |
•The legitimacy of report cards will depend on their ability to meet stakeholders' reasonable expectations |