AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Lack of ethical, legal, and clinical consensus about best practice sometimes combines with a poor clinical evidence base.

This article considers relevant history that informs the AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinions about neurological criteria for death.

Dr Helen Chapple talks about eliciting and honoring patients’ health care preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Decisions for patients who are unrepresented and incarcerated could be made by different classes of possible decision makers “inside” and “outside.”

A UPAC is an alternative to engaging a guardianship court appointment process or to using physicians or ethics committees as decision makers.

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.

A look at current literature and work by a statewide initiative can motivate development of policies that help respond to unrepresented patients’ needs.