This Viewpoint discusses barriers to quality end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including limited staffing, inadequate access to palliative medications, and restrictive visitation policies, and calls for proactive surge planning through organizational and policy reforms to facilitate symptom relief and comfort for patients dying in the pandemic.

This Viewpoint discusses the pending case of Mahoney Morris v Centura Health, in which a physician employed by a Catholic-affiliated health system in Colorado sued to be able to provide medical aid-in-dying (MAID) to a patient with end-stage cancer under the 2016 Colorado End-of-Life Options Act, which permits health care professionals to write and fill life-ending prescriptions without regard to their employer’s position on the law.

This Viewpoint describes the role of board certification in collective professional self-regulation, current challenges, and future directions.

Tilburt and coauthors report results of a survey of US physicians regarding health care cost-containment strategies and personal responsibility for addressing health care costs. In an Editorial, Emanuel and Steinmetz discuss why physicians must take the lead in controlling health care costs.