The experience of an English professor dying of ovarian cancer in Margaret Edson’s play Wit shows that both literary and medical discourse obfuscate and objectify rather than promote communication of “simple human truths” that dignify life and death.

The authors of a recent journal article believe that most doctors and clinical trial sponsors would not object to changes in regulations requiring doctors to disclose financial incentives to their patients.

Protecting patients rather than informed consent should be the goal when the complexity of information overwhelms patients’ decision-making capacity.

Many ethical and legal issues arise when academic medical research is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.

Research ethics should be included in the medical school curriculum so students and residents can fully understand the ethical implications of medical research.

Advice for enrolling patients in clinical trials.

Clinical equipoise—the idea that the community of medical experts is uncertain about the relative therapeutic merits of the arms of a clinical trial at its outset—mitigates physicians’ responsibility for patients’ poor outcomes when patients are assigned to the control arm or are harmed by an investigational agent.

In conducting research abroad, clinicians should treat community members with dignity and as research partners.

In conducting research abroad, clinicians should treat community members with dignity and as research partners.