Justice is a principle that is concerned with the distribution of benefits and burdens amongst individuals and groups and with disparities that are not justified by some other principle. Broadly speaking, justice is synonymous with fairness and in health care we are often concerned with justice across a range of domains. We think of justice in the context of individual interactions, but also in terms of the way that social systems and structures treat groups of people.
Justice is concerned with identifying unfairness, that is, differential treatment or outcomes that are not justified by an ethically relevant difference, but it is also oriented to rectifying these discrepancies.
Justice can be reflected in a range of arrangements – sometimes equality (treatment of everyone in the same manner) is the focus, while sometimes equity (treatment that recognizes differences in starting place or background resources) is more appropriate.