Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine priority setting for coronary artery bypass surgery, and to provide an overview of decisions and rationales used in clinical practice. Method: Questionnaires were sent to all permanently employed cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and anaesthesiologists at nine Swedish hospitals performing adult cardiothoracic surgery. Results: A total of 208 physicians responded (a 44% return rate). There was considerable agreement concerning the criteria that should be used to set priorities for coronary artery bypass interventions (clusters of factors in synthesis). However, there was a lack of accord regarding the use of national guidelines for priority setting and risk indexes. Conclusions: Basic training and the strong support of ethical principles in priority setting are lacking. The respondents indicated a need for clearer guidelines and an open dialogue or discussion. The lack of generally acknowledged plans and guidelines for priority setting may result in unequal, conditional, and unfair treatment.

The discussion of global justice has mainly focused on global distributive justice. This article argues for global rectificatory justice, mainly by former colonial states in favor of former colonized peoples. The argument depends on the following premises: (1) there is a moral obligation to rectify the consequences of wrongful acts; (2) colonialism was on the whole harmful for the colonies; (3) the present unjust global structure was constituted by colonialism; and (4) the obligation of rectificatory justice is trans-generational so long as there are at present identifiable beneficiaries and victims of past injustice. Although it is too demanding to ask for full compensation for 450 years of colonialism, the former colonial powers can in different ways and to the best of their efforts contribute to change the present inequalities that are the legacy of history. A theory of global rectificatory justice is complementary to a theory of global distributive justice and enables us to develop a fuller understanding of the meaning of global justice.

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Abstract. Continuous developments in information and communication technologies (ICT)have resulted in an increasing use of these technologies in the practice of medicine and in the provision of medical care. This paper presents a series of perspectives from different areas of expertise on some of the ways in which ICT has changed the social picture in respect of the practice of medicine. The aim of the paper is to provide a context for further debate, in the form of a Panel Session, where the issue of Human Choice and Computing can be discussed with reference to a set of specific scenarios. The authors of this paper represent a wide variety of disciplines including law, ethics, medicine, philosophy and computer science, thus bringing a broad perspective to begin the discussions. The aim of the session is to provoke further discussion, encouraging input from other disciplines respresented by the participants, with a view to identifying the level of human choice in a social arena which has at its heart a vulnerable community. In this environment, and in this era, the "social" in social informatics has never been more important.

Purpose -The world wide use of information and communication technology (ICT) is one aspect of globalisation. In the ethical discussion of the implications of ICT the right to privacy is in focus. However, ICT-ethics has been developed in a Western context and hence, privacy might be a Western value without relevance in other cultures. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the general problem whether one can expect a global convergence on ICT-ethics, with the right to privacy as a case in point. Is privacy a universal or contextual value? Design/methodology/approach -In order to answer the research question, methods for conceptual and ethical analysis are used. The concept of privacy is analysed and an argument asserting that there is a deep disagreement between Western and Japanese understanding of a right to privacy is critically examined. Findings -Privacy is a vague concept and it is not possible to identify one Western view of privacy and, hence, to distinguish between the Western and -for example -the Japanese views of privacy. Common arguments for privacy within ICT-ethics do not presuppose contextual Western premises. While globalisation implies increasing inter-cultural communication one may well envisage a growing global convergence of a right to privacy. Thus, there is not a deep cultural disagreement concerning the right to privacy. Originality/value -The paper critically examines arguments for the view that privacy is a Western value without relevance in Japan. It clarifies the meaning of privacy and provides reasons why one can expect a global convergence of a right to privacy in particular and ICT-ethics in general.