Physicians and surrogates should take patients' preferences into account in making clinical intervention decisions, even if the patients have been found to lack decision-making capacity.
A landmark court case in California determined that a competent adult patient has the right to forgo medical treatment and the patient's autonomy supersedes the state's interest in preserving the patient's life.
A physician discusses the benefits of a Saturday clinic that is operated by Colorado medical students to serve working and unemployed homeless patients.
In a move towards universal HIV care, the WHO and UNAIDS have implemented a plan to make antiretroviral therapy available to 3 million HIV/AIDS victims worldwide by the end of 2005.
An undercurrent in all debates about allocation of health care resources to the poor is the matter of access to and coverage of health care for immigrants, particularly low-income and undocumented ones.