UC Davis

Importance

Few studies specifically address lawsuits involving Mohs surgery.

Objective

To better characterize the types of medical professional liability claims involving Mohs surgery.

Design, setting, and participants

Retrospective legal document review of an online national database. Any legal proceeding involving the search words Mohs and cancer was included.

Main outcomes and measures

Number of medical professional liability claims involving Mohs surgery for factors including year of litigation, location, physician specialty, injury sustained, cause of legal action, and verdict.

Results

Forty-two cases were identified, which occurred from 1989 to 2011. Of the cases identified, 26 involved non-Mohs surgeons as the primary defendant, mostly due to a delay of or failure in diagnosis (n = 16), cosmetic outcome issues (n = 8), lack of informed consent (n = 7), and a delay of or failure in referral to a Mohs surgeon (n = 6). Common causes for litigation against Mohs surgeons as the primary defendant (n = 16) were lack of proper informed consent (n = 5) and cosmetic outcome issues (n = 4). Only 1 case against a Mohs surgeon was judged for the plaintiff.

Conclusions and relevance

The most common lawsuits pertaining to Mohs surgery list non-Mohs surgeons as the primary defendants. Closer coordination between non-Mohs surgeons and Mohs surgeons may help minimize risk to both parties and lead to better patient care. Small sample size is the primary limitation, in part owing to exclusion of out-of-court settlements from the database.