Introduction Racism, rather than race, is a social determinant of health. Black and Latino populations are disproportionately affected by some diseases due to inequities in factors such as income, housing, and education that are sometimes driven by racism. Additionally, the beliefs held by healthcare professionals regarding race could be the reason why one person receives quality healthcare and another does not receive care at all. This paper explores the ethicality of racism in healthcare from various ethical theories and bioethical principles. It also explicates how the nursing profession and the law address this concern. Racism in healthcare is unethical because it denies equitable care to some populations. Ethical Theories and Principles The issue of racism in healthcare can be evaluated from various ethical theories, including utilitarianism and virtue ethics. According to the utilitarian ethical theory, an action is ethical if it brings happiness and maximizes utility for the greatest number of people (Häyry, 2020). The theory would be concerned about the ethicality of racism in healthcare because discrimination adversely affects some people’s health. For example, racism denies some people access to services and leads to poor health outcomes. The virtue ethics theory holds that an action is ethical if it reflects moral values such as honesty, empathy, kindness, integrity, and fairness. The theory would question whether racism in healthcare is ethical and whether it facilitates the provision of care in a manner that is centered on values such as compassion, fairness, and integrity. Racism in healthcare can also be considered from the perspective of ethical principles. The bioethical principle of beneficence requires medical professionals to take actions with the intention of promoting the wellbeing of their patients (Avant & Swetz, 2020). Racist healthcare providers do not take actions that benefit their patients. For example, failing to prescribe necessary painkillers to a Black person because of the belief that Black people are more susceptible to painkiller addiction goes against the principle of beneficence. Another bioethical principle is non-maleficence, which is a call for medical professionals to do no harm to their patients. Racism harms people in the form of late or no diagnosis, lower life expectancy, and harmful stereotypes. The principle of non-maleficence would argue against racism in healthcare. On the other hand, some people would argue that healthcare professionals do not intentionally harm their patients. For instance, many incidences of medical racism stem from implicit bias (Iheduru-Anderson et al., 2021). However, ignorance is not an excuse for harming a patient because nurses and other professionals have a duty not to harm their patients. Therefore, it is their responsibility to unlearn such unconscious bias that result in racism in healthcare. Nursing Codes The nursing profession, through various codes, advises nurses how to approach ethical concerns arising from racism in healthcare. The CNO consists of six main principles by which nurses should abide (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2019). The first principle requires nurses to treat patients with dignity. They should treat them with care, com