{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,11]],"date-time":"2025-11-11T13:39:28Z","timestamp":1762868368595,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]],"date-time":"2020-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608249600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> The COVID-19 outbreak rapidly became a public health emergency affecting particularly the frail category as cancer patients. This led oncologists to radical changes in patient management, facing the unprecedent issue whether treatments in oncology could be postponed without compromising their efficacy.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Purpose:<\/jats:bold> To discuss legal implications in oncology practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Perspective:<\/jats:bold> Treatment delay is not always feasible in oncology where the timing often plays a key role and may impact significantly in prognosis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the oncologists were found between the anvil and the hammer, on the one hand the need to treat cancer patients aiming to improve clinical benefits, and on the other hand the goal to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection avoiding or delaying immunosuppressive treatments and hospital exposure. Therefore, two rising scenarios with possible implications in both criminal and civil law are emerging. Firstly, oncologists may be \u201caccused\u201d of having delayed or omitted the diagnosis and\/or treatments with consequent worsening of patients' outcome. Secondly, oncologists can be blamed for having exposed patients to hospital environment considered at risk for COVID-19 transmission.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions:<\/jats:bold> During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical decision making should be well-balanced through a careful examination between clinical performance status, age, comorbidities, aim of the treatment, and the potential risk of COVID-19 infection in order to avoid the risk of suboptimal cancer care with potential legal repercussion. Moreover, all cases should be discussed in the oncology team or in the tumor board in order to share the best strategy to adopt case by case.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2020.602988","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]],"date-time":"2020-12-18T06:34:20Z","timestamp":1608273260000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Medical Liability in Cancer Care During COVID-19 Pandemic: Heroes or Guilty?"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Rosario","family":"Barranco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carlo","family":"Messina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Bonsignore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carlo","family":"Cattrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Ventura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105951","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijantimicag.2020.105951","article-title":"Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): current status and future perspectives","volume":"55","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Antimicrob Agents"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e000759","DOI":"10.1136\/esmoopen-2020-000759","article-title":"Cancer care during the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy: young oncologists' perspective","volume":"5","author":"Lambertini","year":"2020","journal-title":"ESMO Open"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2005","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.6236","article-title":"Oncology practice during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"323","author":"Schrag","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"665","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-020-0874-8","article-title":"Caring for patients with cancer in the COVID-19 era","volume":"26","author":"van de Haar","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Med"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1919","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)31173-9","article-title":"COVID-19 mortality in patients with cancer on chemotherapy or other anticancer treatments: a prospective cohort study","volume":"395","author":"Lee","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet."},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"268","DOI":"10.1038\/s41571-020-0362-6","article-title":"Cancer, COVID-19 and the precautionary principle: prioritizing treatment during a global pandemic","volume":"17","author":"Hanna","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Rev Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1177\/0025817220923694","article-title":"COVID-19 and infection in health-care workers: an emerging problem","volume":"88","author":"Barranco","year":"2020","journal-title":"Med Leg J"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.1177\/0025802420927825","article-title":"The role of forensic pathologists in coronavirus disease 2019 infection: the importance of an interdisciplinary research","volume":"60","author":"Barranco","year":"2020","journal-title":"Med Sci Law"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101718","DOI":"10.1016\/j.legalmed.2020.101718","article-title":"COVID-19: the wrong target for healthcare liability claims","volume":"46","author":"Parisi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Leg Med"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110308","DOI":"10.1016\/j.forsciint.2020.110308","article-title":"Forensic medicine in the time of COVID 19: an Editorial from Milano, Italy","volume":"312","author":"Cattaneo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Forensic Sci Int"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1016\/j.annonc.2020.03.286","article-title":"Managing COVID-19 in the oncology clinic and avoiding the distraction effect","volume":"31","author":"Cortiula","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ann Oncol"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1509","DOI":"10.1634\/theoncologist.2020-0420","article-title":"Management of germ cell tumors during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease-19 pandemic: a survey of international expertise centers","volume":"25","author":"Nappi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Oncologist."},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.1038\/s41571-020-0375-1","article-title":"Cancer and COVID-19 - 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