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.

Humor can help motivate positive interactions amidst fast-paced clinical encounters but can alienate colleagues when weaponized to promote assumed superiority of an individual or group.

This article considers that benefits of using humor in clinical settings come with risks of diminishing therapeutic capacity in patient-clinician relationships.

Sitting for his portrait gave William an opportunity to reflect, even when he was not inclined naturally to do so.

John is one patient-sitter whose cancer and portraiture experiences illuminate what it means to witness, to express regard for another’s difficult health and health care experiences.

Lisa is one patient-sitter who took comfort in the permanence of portraiture amidst the uncertainties of tongue cancer. Her experience offers an abundance of lessons for art and healing.

Anthony is one patient-sitter whose experience of head and neck cancer diagnosis, surgery, and recovery suggests how silence is ethically, artistically, and clinically significant.

Shared decision making in research informed consent conversations is complex due to diverse and potentially divergent interests of investigators and patient-subjects.

Whether a patient’s decisional regret constitutes a failure of shared decision making can depend on how a decision was made.

Shared decision making honors patient autonomy, particularly for preference-sensitive care decisions and even when patients have impaired decision-making capacity.