As I have watched the agenda to revise the Canadian health system unfold over the past several months, I have found myself wondering what the system will be like ten years from now. I wonder whether I'm overreacting to isolated events or whether these are, in fact, signs which may lead to a crumbling of the Canadian health system as we know it.
Healthcare professionals have a responsibility to act in their patients' best interests.
Acting for the public interest is the most important job of government. Basing that action on the cold consensus of public opinion, while it may sell politically in the short term, is a disservice to our nation's great history and, hopefully, even greater future. It begs the question of whether public policy is being shaped by public opinion or by a genuine concern for the public interest. Many questions haunt the current debate in Canada and the emergence of ethics as a means by which to evaluate the present Canadian health system and integrate a discipline of ongoing evaluation into the system is increasingly evident. In other words, ethics may help us to define the public interest.