Good clinicians understand why a patient is asking for a test or treatment, and their skillful counseling can often stem the tide of requests for marginally beneficial tests and procedures.

This month, AMA Journal of Ethics editor-in-chief Audiey Kao, MD, PhD, interviewed Peter A. Ubel, MD, about factors contributing to the high cost of health care, how to bend the cost curve, and the compatibility of cost containment and profit seeking.

Doctors should do everything they can to protect an adolescent's confidentiality, but lying to the patient's parents is not acceptable.

When adolescents seek emergency contraception in the emergency room, social judgment on the part of clinicians can hamper treatment.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinions on confidential care for sexually active minors and physicians' exercise of conscience in refusal of services.

Telepsychiatry extends access to psychiatric treatment to those who might not otherwise get it, but licensure problems and the risk of boundary violations between patients and physicians need to be worked out.

Confidential care for adolescents supports their emerging autonomy, engagement in health care decision making, and access to and use of reproductive health services.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinions on confidential services for children and adolescents.

A review of three journal articles shows the significant impact that poverty has on physical and mental health status, as well as all causes of mortality.