Malpractice in head and neck cancer: a comprehensive medico-legal review

Head and neck (H&N) malignancies include a broad spectrum of clinical presentations and outcomes. Sources of risks, errors and mistakes are intrinsic to every therapeutical-diagnostic step leading to potential burden of malpractice allegations and threaten delivery of healthcare. The purpose of this review is to report key factors of malpractice litigation H&N neoplasms, analyzing its ethical-deontological and medico-legal aspects with a focus on Italian law. PubMed and Scopus databases were accessed to assess existing cases of oncological H&N malpractice. Twelve articles were identified according to search criteria in the selected period (2000-2024). Inclusion criteria lead to 6 articles pertaining to analysis of allegations of malpractice in H&N tumors. Diagnostic delay and informed consent issues are the most represented allegations. Poor access and lack of standardization in legal databases is commonly seen as a factor that holds back a thorough litigation analysis. This review adds evidence about common features of medical malpractice allegations through a medico-legal perspective that may help in adopting preventive strategies to mitigate risks and enhance patient safety. Combining data deriving from different studies, the paper contributes to understand the evolution of the trajectory of malpractice in this field.