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.

Jamaljé R. Bassue joins Ethics Talk to discuss his short film: “You Might Be Here Awhile.”

Dr Sunita Sah joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “How Should the US Federal Government Oversee Clinicians’ Relationships With Industry?”

Professor Wendy E. Parmet joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Claudia E. Haupt: “Holding Clinicians in Public Office Accountable to Professional Standards.”

AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Amanda Xi, MD, a transitional year resident at Henry Ford Hospital, interviewed Donald M. Berwick, MD, shortly before the Supreme Court’s decision in King versus Burwell.

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.

This month, Virtual Mentor spoke with Dr. Alex Ding and Mr. Jordan VanLare, a fourth-year medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, about their impressions of health reform and how it will impact the medical practice environment they will soon enter.

Kathleen Wong joins Ethics Talk to discuss her comic: “Lit, Unread, Unrested.” 

Dr Keith W. Hamilton joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Dr George Maliha, Keith Robert Thomas, and Mary Ellen Nepps: “How Might Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Influence Clinicians’ Autonomy and Organizations’ Liability?”