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.

Megan Chao Smith joins Ethics Talk to discuss their article, coauthored with Dr Shanda Demorest: “How Should Clinicians and Health Care Organizations Respond When Civic Planning Concentrates Waste Processing in Minoritized Communities?”

Ariel Levchenko joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Scott Schweikart: “How Should Regulations Help Health Care Organizations Manage Waste?”

Dr Amy Collins joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Dr Shanda Demorest: “How Should We Respond to Health Care Generating Environmental Harm?”

Lloyd Duplechan joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “How Health Care Organizations Can Be Stewardship Leaders.”

Dr Shawn G. Gibbs joins Ethics Talk to discuss industrial hygiene, biocontainment, and how to build more sustainable health systems. 

Brian Robert Smith joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “Greener Health Care Is a Necessity.”

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

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 Karel-Bart Celie, a second-year medical student at Columbia University School of Medicine, interviewed Joseph J. Fins, MD, about the work of ethics committees and consultants as they pursue professionalization and respond to changes in health care organization and practice.