When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.

Dr Laura Guidry-Grimes helps us consider whether and which decisions can be shared with people experiencing mental illnesses.

Dr Paul T. Menzel joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: "How Should Willingness-to-Pay Values of Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Be Updated and According to Whom?"

Scott Schweikart joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions Related to Clinicians in Government.”

Dr Anna L. Westermair joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Manuel Trachsel: “Moral Intuitions About Futility as Prompts for Evaluating Goals in Mental Health Care.”

Dr Cynthia Geppert joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “Is There a Case for Palliative Care Addiction Psychiatry?”

Dr Awais Aftab joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “What Should Clinicians Know About Palliative Psychopharmacology?”

Dr Helen Chapple joins Ethics Talk to discuss the harms of poor end-of-life care and how to avoid them.

In the September 2014 issue on physicians as agents of social change, Dr. Audiey Kao, editor-in-chief of Virtual Mentor interviewed Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

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.