Caring for the elderly imposes financial burdens and strains families. System changes are necessary to mitigate these problems.

Physicians have an obligation to consider a patient’s quality of life when making treatment decisions and should consider giving patients the options of withholding or withdrawing aggressive treatment if that treatment will not restore the kind of life the patient finds meaningful.

Should old folks who have lived their lives be allowed to place a huge economic burden on the young by using a disproportionate amount of limited Medicare resources for medical care?

The current Medicare operation—reimbursing medical goods and services to a growing number of people without basing the reimbursement benefit on the actual cost of the services—is unsustainable, but there are some possible remedies.

Strategies for preventing and detecting mistreatment of the elderly through neglect or abuse are offered.

When recruiting physicians from developing countries for U.S. residency training slots there are ethical concerns that program directors and potential residents should be aware of and discuss.

Researchers have attempted to identify excessive Internet use and video game playing and have sought to classify it as an addiction.

When the patient delivers a low-birth-weight infant that requires extensive time in the neonatal intensive, should she be held responsible? Where do we draw the line? More importantly, on what basis do we draw the line?

Physicians should be aware of the influence that their observable health and lifestyle habits have on patients.

A look at Pamela Bjorkland’s critique of the use of psychoactive drugs to improve mood, a practice known as cosmetic psychopharmacology.