Rawls believes that people in the original position would agree on a set of duties that one owes to both oneself and others. He termed these natural duties and includes among them the duties of justice, avoiding harm to others, promise keeping, and helping others in need. Such duties also suggest and support principles such as respect for persons, nonmaleficence, fidelity, beneficence, and a form of procedural justice.

Rawls’ theory is obviously applicable to ethical issues in the larger health care system involving health policy and allocation of resources. Rawls would approach these issues from the particular perspective of individual liberties and rights. In addition, the concept of natural duties can also be applied to questions of autonomy and caregiver obligations. A strength of Rawls’ theory is its dual emphasis on moral obligation and the need to mitigate the practical consequences of social systems. A primary criticism includes a question of whether the original position is, in fact, biased by Rawls’ own privileged view of the current system.

For more on John Rawls and Rawlsian ethics see:

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Original Position.
• Wikipedia. A Theory of Justice.
• Wikipedia. John Rawls.