Supporting burn patients physically, psychologically, and emotionally during their recovery can be a challenge. This month on Ethics Talk, we explore how medical teams can ensure that patients are given the holistic care they need.

Trauma care presumes informed consent for treatment, but resident supervision is required within a training structure of graduated responsibility.

Tattooing offers expanded possibilities for creative expression among women who have undergone mastectomies and breast surgeries.

Graphic pathographies can teach medical students to acknowledge patients’ emotional experiences in delivering diagnosis and treatment.

Graphic pathographies can facilitate physicians’ empathy with patients during informed consent and end-of-life conversations and promote patient education.

Victims of sexual violence who are minors should not be forced to submit to a rape kit exam against their wishes since it might retraumatize the patient.

Family planning to mitigate climate change should reflect patients’ values and preferences, which physicians should elicit during contraceptive counseling.

Using focus groups to obtain stakeholder feedback can lead to epistemic injustices if the decision-making process is not perceived as procedurally fair.

Community-based participatory research ensures that community protections, risks, and benefits are considered during ethical reviews of research protocols.

By cultivating cultural humility, physicians can address not only stereotypes and biases but also power inequalities and community inequities.