Background - Little is known about case managers' ethical issues and professional values.

Objectives - This article presents an overview of ethical issues in case managers' current practice. Findings are examined in the light of nursing ethics, social work ethics and principle-based biomedical ethics.

Research design - A systematic literature review was performed to identify and analyse empirical studies concerning ethical issues in case management programmes. It was completed by systematic content analysis of case managers' national codes of ethics.

Findings - Only nine empirical studies were identified, eight of them from North America. The main dilemmas were how to balance system goals against the client's interest and client protection against autonomy. Professional codes of ethics shared important similarities, but offered different responses to these two dilemmas.

Discussion - We discuss the respective roles of professional and organizational ethics. Further lines of research are suggested.