Informed assent, in which the family or surrogate decision makers for a patient are invited to defer to clinicians' judgment rather than specifically consenting to withholding or withdrawing futile treatments, is consistent with quality care and may protect surrogates from feeling responsible for the patient’s death.

AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinions on informing patients.

Whether or not to inform patients of off-label drug prescribing has been the subject of heated debate for a long time, with convincing arguments made on both sides of the issue and no consensus reached.

While respecting patient autonomy and involving patients in decision making, physicians must recognize that some situations call for them to exercise selective paternalism in order to fulfill their professional duty to uphold standards of care.

After assessing the reasons for a patient’s unrealistic hopefulness in the face of clear understanding, a clinician may believe that significant harm will come to the patient if he or she does not acknowledge the seriousness of the illness.

Merely giving patients access to electronic health records made for use by clinicians will not help patients make use of the information they contain.

Requirements for informed consent are relatively vague and the exceptions are few, so it is in the physician’s best interest to inform patients about proposed treatment options, ascertain that they understand their choices, and secure their consent.

There is evidence that physicians' communication styles and ability to perceive others' emotional states correlate with better health outcomes and patient adherence.

An interview with Allan Ramsay, one of the five appointed members of the Green Mountain Care Board, which oversees the development of Vermont’s single-payer health care system.

Advances in psychopharmacology, cognitive neuroscience, digital technology, and genetics pose ethical questions in twenty-first-century psychiatry.