The AMA Code of Medical Ethics offers guidance about physicians’ responsibilities to patients who request clinically inappropriate interventions.

A lack of consensus guidelines or a belief that current evidence does not support such guidelines might be justified if a clinician expresses a commitment to patient-centered care and shared decision making.

Parents’ false beliefs can be engaged respectfully to motivate deliberations about shared values and goals, but refusal of clinically indicated treatment could warrant reporting.

When a parent resists a physician's recommendation for a pediatric patient, physician-parent partnering can promote the patient's best interest and help encourage lifestyle changes.

Clarifying both patients’ and professionals’ values fosters good clinical decision making, particularly in situations of uncertainty.

Success depends on strong support, rehabilitation, adherence, and social integration.

Empathic communication skills help motivate understanding of safety, significance of harms, impact on succeeding generations, and social consequences.

Not all cultural traditions have the same conception of personhood. In Confucianism, self-individuation takes place only through engagement with others in the context of one’s social roles and relationships.

Family presence during resuscitation of a child remains controversial and disagreement persists about whether and when potential benefits outweigh risks.

The Code offers guidance about delivering a diagnosis and promoting patients’ best interests when assigning names to patients’ conditions.