Which principle requires fairness in distributing healthcare resources?

• A. Fidelity
• B. Justice
• C. Beneficence
• D. Autonomy

Answer: (B)

Fairness in distributing healthcare resources is the principle of justice. Justice requires that resources—such as beds, medications, or organ transplants—be allocated fairly and without discrimination, based on need and the likelihood of benefit, especially when supply is limited. It also supports policies and practices that ensure equal access to care for all patients and protects vulnerable groups from being overlooked. Fidelity focuses on keeping promises to individual patients, beneficence on doing good for patients, and autonomy on respecting patients’ right to make their own decisions; these guide individual care but do not by themselves govern how resources are distributed among people. So the principle that directly addresses fair distribution across the population is justice.