In this article, The Top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public: views of Toronto bioethicists, the authors identify the limitations inherent in interviewing only Toronto-based ethicists (themselves), but then go on to proclaim the "top ten" list for the entire country. This list was published with the intent of focusing public debate on these issues and indeed was cited in several newspapers. Unforunately, there is a major ommission in this listing, namely the health disparaties experienced by Canada's aboriginal people. The persisting significant differences in the health outcomes of this population including decreased life expectancy, increased rates of acute and chronic illnesses, and high prevalence of suicide should be headline news. Until these issues come to the forefront of public concern the important ethical considerations in the setting of social policy, health resource allocation and access to care will not be resolved. Inclusion of the aboriginal health concerns in this list would have been an opportunity to raise the profile of this important ethical issue.
Time for a road trip
28 June 2005
In this article, The Top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public: views of Toronto bioethicists, the authors identify the limitations inherent in interviewing only Toronto-based ethicists (themselves), but then go on to proclaim the "top ten" list for the entire country. This list was published with the intent of focusing public debate on these issues and indeed was cited in several newspapers. Unforunately, there is a major ommission in this listing, namely the health disparaties experienced by Canada's aboriginal people. The persisting significant differences in the health outcomes of this population including decreased life expectancy, increased rates of acute and chronic illnesses, and high prevalence of suicide should be headline news. Until these issues come to the forefront of public concern the important ethical considerations in the setting of social policy, health resource allocation and access to care will not be resolved. Inclusion of the aboriginal health concerns in this list would have been an opportunity to raise the profile of this important ethical issue.
Competing interests
None