Resolving the ethical dilemmas presented by modern medicine is not for the faint of heart. As technology introduces ever more perplexing questions, medical ethicists have stepped in to help caregivers, patients, and families chart the right course. Here's an inside look at DHMC's ethics committee, one of the nation's oldest.

Sometimes illumination comes from looking to the future—teasing out new knowledge at the lab bench. But sometimes it comes from delving into the past. A professor of endocrinology and three undergraduates perused 19th-century documents for clues to the changing understanding about one of today's most common chronic conditions.

When a DMS graduate enters practice, she learns that the patient-care part of medicine, which she loves, is subsumed in a sea of insurance contracts and billing codes. In this excerpt from a book about her experiences, she tells of navigating a whole new aspect of medicine.