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Is age discrimination ethically objectionable? One puzzle is that we sometimes assume that the target of both age discrimination and ageism must be older people, yet in poorer nations, older people are generally shown more respect. This article explores the ethical question. It looks first at ethical arguments favoring age discrimination toward younger people in low‐income, less industrialized countries of the global South, using sub‐Saharan Africa as an illustration. It contrasts these with arguments favoring age discrimination toward older people in high‐income, more industrialized countries of the global North, particularly the United States and United Kingdom. Finally, it considers what role, if any, differences in life expectancy, infant and child mortality, and prospects for healthy lives should play in the moral embrace of a particular view by a community. It argues that there can be reasons to favor different types of discrimination in different parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes how a caregiver from the dominant United States culture and a patient from an immigrant, refugee or ethnic minority can resolve cross-cultural disputes about medical treatment, not by compromising important values but by focusing on the patient's goals. A practical ethical approach; Meeting ethical constraints; Analysis of two cases involving Navajo patients; Requirements and justification for three levels of ethical analysis.

Explores the ethical and psychological issues that arise when family members request that `everything be done' for a particular patient. Review of the case of Helga Wanglie; Reasons why family members request futile treatments; How health professionals should respond to requests of futile treatments; Importance of caring for patients over requests for futile interventions.

Comments on Catherine Myser's article 'Differences from Somewhere: The Normativity of Whiteness in Bioethics in the United States.' Reason why the sources of normativity matter; Views of Myser on whiteness; Determination of the merit of favorable versus unfavorable interpretations.

Presents medical correspondence clarifying the abuse of medical futility rationale in the United States. Case example of HIV-positive person admitted to the hospital with only 3 months to live and woman with metastatic breast cancer; Goal of assessing patient attitude.

Reports on the drafting of a near-final version of emergency medical service (EMS) guidelines for the No Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Program of Washington State. Permission for EMS personnel to withhold CPR from Washington State residents who have written directives; Patient bracelets; Limitations of the guidelines.