False health-related speech can cause harm, but it’s not restricted unless it’s obscene. Physicians are obliged not only to correct patients’ false beliefs, but to engage digital spaces in which false claims thrive.

False health information can harm, so hosts and writers of website content, clinicians, and patients are all responsible for jointly appraising the quality of online content and preventing the spread of misinformation.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics offers guidance about physicians’ responsibilities to patients who request clinically inappropriate interventions.

Vegan patients screened for vitamin and mineral deficiencies might benefit from supplements, but physicians are obliged to discuss lack of regulation in the supplement industry and possible risks.

Authors respond to “How Should Physicians Care for Dying Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?” by arguing that patients’ motives for accessing death with dignity laws should be thoroughly explored and that temporarily limiting patient autonomy can promote well-being at the end of life.

Physicians should be aware of the powerful impact celebrities’ cancer narratives can have on patients’ experiences of their illnesses and treatment decisions. Partnering with celebrities is one strategy for delivering evidence-based health information and messaging to the public.

A lack of consensus guidelines or a belief that current evidence does not support such guidelines might be justified if a clinician expresses a commitment to patient-centered care and shared decision making.

Government can regulate false speech and professional speech, which bans “gag laws” and compelled speech about laws to restrict abortion, for example. How should health professions share regulatory responsibility with government to prevent true speech about health information from being stifled?

Therapeutic misconception—a false belief that individuals will benefit from participating in research—can bias informed consent. Ethics consultants can help by engaging participants’ and researchers’ understandings of risks and benefits and by asking good questions about the influences of researchers’ enthusiasm.

These paired photographs of what physicians do when they wear and don’t wear their white coats show a range of activities physicians do to sustain their well-being and dispel false beliefs about their personal lives.