Physicians should demonstrate compassion when the parent of an ill child asks the physician for his or her personal opinion regarding the parents' choice to continue experimental treatment when the prognosis is not good.

Physicians who treat children with Down's syndrome should ensure that their parents fully understand the children's capabilities and long-term prognosis and counsel them on the appropriate actions to take regarding their children's care.

Two journal articles identify the important relationships that the field of social epidemiology has uncovered between poverty and health.

Increased use of emergency departments for primary care puts undue burden on EDs; however, EMTALA obligates EDs to provide care to patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Physicians need to manage expectations and clearly explain the prognosis of ICU patients to their families, particularly when the outcome is a negative one.

A carefully constructed consent and treatment plan is outlined for a neglected and abused child hospitalized with a severe behavioral disorder.

Physicians should go beyond basic medical diagnosis and treatment to offer support to families about the gamut of social and emotional issues that are involved with caring for a severely disabled child.

Physicians working in correctional systems face many ethical dilemmas and professional challenges in providing health care for incarcerated adolescents.

Perinatal mortality indicators like the maternal mortality ratio mask social determinants of health and undermine reproductive justice.

Recommendation for induced lactation in nonbiological mothers is widespread in the medical literature. To resist offering the service for nongestating lesbian mothers bespeaks potential discrimination.