Abstract
Healthcare providers are providing care to an increasingly diverse and elderly population. The dominant US culture is highly individualistic and provides the context for the bioethical principles of the healthcare system. Many other cultures have a collectivist, rather than an individualistic, orientation; and interpretations of ethical principles may differ. This article compares and contrasts the ethical norms, values, and beliefs of the US and other cultures and discusses strategies that healthcare providers may employ to reduce biomedical and cultural ethnocentricity in ethical decision making.