Cynthia M.A. Geppert, MD, MA, MPH, MSBE, DPS

In cases of assisted suicide, do patients really have rational autonomy?

Should psychiatrists help patients end their own lives, even if it is technically legal?

How can mental health professionals promote a true community of immunity?

Clinicians may need to consider what happens to religiously oriented people when things go badly, despite their faith and prayer.

The current Tree of Medicine is rooted in its Hippocratic soil. There are moral absolutes that our profession should stand up for, in spite of legislative or popular pressure, say the authors.

Physician-assisted suicide violates the norms of Hippocratic medical ethics. Involuntary hospitalization to prevent suicide affirms those norms, according to the authors.

Some of the thorniest ethical dilemmas in psychiatry evolve around food: forced feeding in anorexia nervosa, artificial nutrition and hydration at the end of life, and the covert administration of psychotropic medications

There is a growing trend for patients to obtain and use tDCS devices without the interposition of a psychiatrist filling the traditional medical-legal role of learned intermediary. The authors explore various issues.

When, if ever, is it ethical to administer a medication to a patient-even an incapacitated one-without his knowledge? Read the case, and weigh in.