AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Emily Johnson, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, interviewed Susan Mizner, JD, about some merits, drawbacks, and alternatives to guardianship.

Dr Robert Field and Dr Yashaswini Singh join the AMA Journal of Ethics Grand Rounds series to discuss what patients and clinicians should know about private equity in health care.

Dr Mollyann Brodie talks about the about the science of polling, public opinions on COVID-19, and politically-divergent views on policy options to achieve universal health care coverage.

Matt Wuerker talks about his artistic process in creating cartoons that speak to matters of politics and policy arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elder self-neglect can be assessed with the Elder Self-Neglect Assessment (ESNA) and addressed by physicians’ partnering with patients to achieve common goals.

A guardian’s request to sterilize a woman with intellectual disabilities is not ethically justifiable unless the woman assents and it is to her benefit.

The best interests of a pregnant psychotic patient can be served by determining her decision making capacity and using surrogate decision making if needed.

Cases of elder self-neglect require physicians to balance the patient’s wish for independence and the risks of poor self-care.

Withholding information from patients during an informed consent process is ethically unacceptable. Patients may restrict the amount of information they wish to receive or designate someone else to receive the information for them.

When patients cannot give informed consent or refusal for antipsychotic medication, physicians must meet specific criteria to justify temporarily withholding a diagnosis.