AMA Journal of Ethics^®

If I am unwilling to pay more taxes so an 85-year-old stranger can have a left-ventricular assist device, then I am morally obligated to say the same holds true for a future version of me in those same circumstances.

The importance of the Oregon experiment is that the state developed a public process for prioritizing medical services rather than relying on undisclosed private decisions by individuals or insurers.

Physicians make patients aware of those interventions that they (the patients) may then refuse. In short, informed consent is less about patient decisions than it is about restraining physicians.

We must not pit immigration policy and health care needs against one another. We need better policy on immigration, and that policy should confront immigration at the workplace and at the border—not in the hospital emergency room.

A positive right to parenthood obligates others to support a person’s attempt to become a parent. Do physicians have a duty to assist their patients’ procreative efforts, and, if so, in what ways?