Global health outreach programs can risk benefitting students from resource-rich areas of the world more than the patients in resource-poor areas of the world. This month’s episode of Ethics Talk explores an alternative to academic health center-based health outreach programs.

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.

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.

Dr Olivia Kates talks about appropriate use of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medically futile/inappropriate treatments and rationing have distinct ethical justifications and applications and require separate policies.

How to resolve conflicts between hospital policy and the treatment recommendations for an individual patient.

How to resolve conflicts between hospital policy and the treatment recommendations for an individual patient.

Strategies for improving health care ethics consultation should appeal to key stakeholders in hospitals and not just the academic bioethics community.

Guidelines are needed to help ensure that trainee, institutional, and faculty engagement in global health is ethically appropriate and mutually beneficial for all involved.

Changes made in 2017 to the World Medical Association Physician’s Pledge strive to keep in step with geopolitical trends by addressing patient autonomy and collegiality.