Which ethical principle highlights the obligation to treat all patients fairly?

The principle that emphasizes the obligation to treat all patients fairly is justice. This ethical concept is rooted in the idea of fairness, equality, and impartiality in healthcare, which ensures that all individuals have equal access to medical care, regardless of their background, social status, or any other differentiating factors. Justice involves the distribution of benefits and burdens among patients equitably, ensuring that no one is unfairly treated or neglected.

In this context, justice can manifest itself in various ways, such as providing the same quality of care to all patients, advocating for resources in underserved communities, and addressing disparities in health outcomes. It underscores the importance of recognizing patients' rights and ensuring that each individual receives appropriate and fair treatment.

While the other principles—beneficence, nonmaleficence, and veracity—play crucial roles in ethical decision-making, they do not directly address the essential fairness aspect in the treatment of patients. Beneficence focuses on promoting the well-being of patients, nonmaleficence highlights the need to do no harm, and veracity relates to the obligation of truthfulness in the patient-provider relationship. These principles are important in their own right, but they do not encapsulate the specific duty of fairness that the principle of