When a clinician refuses to do a procedure consistent with standard of care for a patient, legal resources can be helpful.

During or after conflict, a clinician might be required to provide evidence to an official investigatory body or court.

Clinicians using governing authority to make public health policy are ethically obliged to draw upon scientific and clinical information that accords professional standards.

This article canvasses states’ legal prohibitions and challenges to them and considers consequences for clinicians and patients.

The social institutions of medicine and the state have a complex history of interaction in which doctors have been the originators of political ideals, goals, and social change but equally often have found themselves to be instruments of political authority.

While sex selection of children for nonmedical reasons is not prohibited in the United States, the authors believe that sperm sorting should not be used until more safety data are available.

Should couples undergoing IVF be allowed to request sex selection for nonmedical so-called family balancing?

Recent legislative and regulatory actions extend equal protection under the law to members of the LGBT community.

Physicians should honor confidentiality whenever possible when screening and treating adolescents for sensitive health conditions such as substance abuse.