How to avoid flying blind. To truly improve U.S. healthcare, leaders must consider seven moral values.

To genuinely improve U.S. healthcare, we must base it on seven moral values familiar to Americans: Preserving individual dignity. Patients have a right to information about their medical condition and a right to participate in decisions about treatment. Society should make a basic package of healthcare available to all who need it. Caring for patients' welfare. As providers are obliged to have compassion for patients' suffering, they should also put patients' interests above their own and avoid conflicts of interest. Protecting the least well-off. Many who are poor, less educated, or members of racial or ethnic minorities bear disproportionate burdens of morbidity and mortality. They should receive care that compensates for those disadvantages. Seeking the common good. Our society has a strong disposition toward excessive individualism. We need greater emphasis on public health and preventive measures, as well as more opportunities for the public to help shape the healthcare system. Containing the healthcare costs. Waste is offensive both economically and morally. We can contain costs only by grappling explicitly with the need for healthcare rationing, which should be applied according to ethical criteria. Retaining a sense of responsibility. Society can help renew a sense of responsibility b anchoring it in the concept of subsidiarity, according to which the best government is the least government necessary to perform its appropriate tasks. Establishing high standards of quality. Providers should pursue excellence as measured by improved medical outcomes, uniform use of appropriate procedures, and increased consumer satisfaction. Quality-of-life judgments can be useful in making healthcare decisions, especially for persons who are dying.