Quality is a key concept and an important strategy in health care management. This paper attempts to draw together quality and ethics in health care. Quality, moreover, is considered an ethical imperative in health services. Quality in health involves several dimensions, including effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction, as well as other specific indicators, such as standards of care, feasible costs and demonstrable impact. The author comments on three main subjects: the right to mental health services; the challenge of working in defective systems; and evaluation of psychiatric services. The most relevant efforts under way have to do with practice guidelines, which have significant implications for ethical concerns in psychiatry