• Yvonne Heung, Matthew Clark, Jacqueline Tschanz, and Eduardo Bruera.
• Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine (Y.H., J.T., E.B.), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA. Electronic address: YJHeung@mdanderson.org.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2023 Sep 1; 66 (3): e431e435e431-e435.

AbstractPain is one of the most common symptoms experienced by patients living with cancer. Guidelines recommend opioids as the mainstay in the management of cancer-related pain. However, the opioid epidemic has resulted in policymakers recommending limitations on opioid prescribing which led to community pharmacies implementing various parameters. These restrictions have created barriers for patients with cancer-related pain attempting to fill opioid prescriptions from their community pharmacies. Additionally, in the setting of the opioid epidemic, there have been reports of systemic bias within community pharmacies, leading to experiences with embarrassment and shame for patients with cancer-related pain. This case series presents specific examples of community pharmacies declining to fill opioid prescriptions for patients with cancer-related pain and associated patient suffering.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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