Abstract
Malignant melanoma represents an important source of diagnostic error, litigation risk and poor litigation outcomes for dermatologists owing to its particularly lethal nature, ability to mimic benign lesions and tendency to affect relatively young individuals. This review provides an overview of the legal framework governing medical malpractice litigation in the USA, describes seven clinical scenarios that frequently serve as a basis for melanoma-related malpractice claims and discusses strategies for avoiding the diagnostic errors that commonly give rise to those scenarios.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
Support for this work was provided by the Lloyd charitable trust ‘Developing the optimal melanoma screening tutorial for primary care physicians and medical students’. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.