Ethics Talk

Fewer medical students are selecting primary care specialties such as family medicine and pediatrics, a trend which could cause a shortage in the types of physicians society needs most. Two medical students explain the reasons for their choices of specialty and comment on possible reasons for the trend.

Today's patients are better informed about possible causes and treatments for their symptoms than ever before. A physician works through a challenging encounter with a patient who comes to her office demanding a particular brand name drug and will accept nothing less--or so it seems at first.

Graduating medical students still report being belittled and mistreated by their instructors and clinical faculty. Two medical students and a resident physician discuss this phenomenon and the procedures that all accredited medical schools have in place for responding to student reports of mistreatment.

More and more employer-based insurance plans are using incentives and penalties to encourage healthy lifestyle choices among those they insure. Sometimes these wellness programs employ "carrots" and "sticks" that limit benefits or charge more for coverage. A company benefits representative, health insurance executive, and a physician discuss the new trend in wellness programs and how they affect p...