This commentary explores legal, ethical, and practical considerations for pharmacists and prescribers working together to address uncertainty in drug prescribing.

Overly physicalist approaches to caring for patients are not likely to help them.

Defining typical appearance as a goal of health service provision is harmful and unnecessary for traits that are stigmatized but neither harmful nor distressing.

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.

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

Both physicians and pharmacists have responsibilities to ensure that opioids are prescribed and dispensed for legitimate medical purposes and to meet legal requirements.

A 3-step analgesic ladder was introduced in 1986 and needs change. Surgical interventions could reduce opioid use and motivate expansion of current pain management approaches.

Clinicians’ racial biases undermine the quality of Black persons’ health care experiences and pave a reliable path to health care-induced harm.

Most physicians schedule out months in advance, requiring their patients to cope with their condition until their appointment and risk their suffering becoming discredited.