Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612-7213, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2009 Dec;140(12):1494-503. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2009.0100.
Failure to diagnose and delayed diagnosis of cancer can have a significant effect on patients' morbidity and mortality. Oral health care professionals should be alert for oral premalignant and malignant disease and head and neck involvement by malignant disease. These issues have patient care and medicolegal implications.
To provide guidance to practitioners, the authors present a series of cases of oral and head and neck cancer that resulted in legal action. They chose the medicolegal cases to highlight dental professionals' potential legal liability and provide guidance in patient care.
Clinicians need to obtain complete comprehensive histories, perform thorough head and neck and oral examinations and appreciate the importance of being vigilant for abnormalities that may lead to early detection of potentially malignant disease.
癌症的诊断失败和诊断延误会对患者的发病率和死亡率产生重大影响。口腔保健专业人员应该警惕口腔癌前病变和恶性肿瘤以及头颈部恶性肿瘤的累及。这些问题涉及患者的护理和医疗法律问题。
为了向从业者提供指导，作者呈现了一系列导致法律诉讼的口腔和头颈部癌症病例。他们选择医疗法律案件来突出牙科专业人员的潜在法律责任，并为患者护理提供指导。
临床医生需要获取完整的综合病史，进行彻底的头颈部和口腔检查，并认识到警惕可能导致潜在恶性疾病早期发现的异常的重要性。
