Clinicians have an ethical obligation to promote health equity in their communities. This month, we discuss how clinicians worked to expose the water crisis in Flint, and explore ways that clinicians can combat systemic injustice and promote health equity.

Dr Jonathan Treem joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Drs Joel Yager and Jennifer L. Gaudiani: “A Life-Affirming Palliative Care Model for Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa.”

This month, AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Matthew Edwards, a third-year medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine, interviewed Douglas R. Bacon, MD, MA, on the development of anesthesiology and the "balanced anesthesia" approach.

Dr Ariane Lewis discusses how we can navigate uncertainty and ambiguity about brain death by understanding clinical criteria for brain death determination and how our approaches to death are culturally and socially situated.

Prof Ana Santos Rutschman talks about the impact of intellectual property regimes on domestic and global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Steven Goodman talks about the ethical and scientific implications of breaking the blind of placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trials.

Which distinctions between minimally conscious states and vegetative states should clinicians consider?

Emergency research that requires exception from informed consent presents challenges in defining and reaching the at-risk community.

Trauma surgeons’ role in gun violence prevention is hampered by restrictions on funding for research with implications for public health interventions.

Gene editing to enhance humans’ adaptability to climate change should consider safety, harm to be averted, succeeding generations, and social consequences.