Patients leaving against medical advice draw attention to intersections of tort law, federal and state regulations, and clinical ethics.

Risk managers can help patient-subjects and clinician-researchers make informed novel device implantation decisions in the absence of preclinical trial data.

For patients historically stripped of control over their reproductive health, consideration of past violations and transparent discussion are key.

Most clinicians receive little training in integrating Native healing into allopathic practice, which undermines patients’ autonomy and cultural values.

Interventions’ influences on decision making situate clinician performance evaluations in key ways.

A nudge is an intervention designed to prompt a person to “voluntarily” make a choice intended by those who altered an environment or situation to yield that choice.

Considering chronic opioid use when planning elective surgery would likely enhance team communication, decrease stigma, and facilitate care transitioning and long-term planning.

Legacy patients are so-called because their opioid use behaviors express past, aggressive opioid prescribing by a clinician. Managing their pain and dependence justly is ethically complex.

Social work perspectives on whether prescribers should authorize opioid refills emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to patient self-determination.

Mandating processes that are not evidence based generates distress among patients and clinicians, so physician advocacy in national, state, and local policymaking is key.