A Perspective on the Principle of Justice in Medical Ethics

One of the most important subjects being discussed in the field of medical ethics is allocation of health care resources in large scales with regard to disease prevention and improvement of the social determinants of health. Justice in health care ethics, in its modern meaning, is not only allocation of scarce medical resources to already diseased persons, but also providing social conditions of life for all people to improve their health and prevention of diseases. This important subject has not been discussed sufficiently in the medical ethics literature in Iran and in the world. If medical ethics is aimed to improving public health, it should focus on the important subject of justice and its very implications on public health and social determinants of disease.