What You Need to Know About Monkeypox & the “Loss of Chance” Malpractice Doctrine

Welcome to this episode of Physician’s Weekly podcast. I am your host, Dr Rachel Giles, from Medicom Medical Publishers, in collaboration with Physician’s Weekly. 

Today’s episode features two interviews. First, we talk about a very timely topic—monkeypox—with public health specialist Dr. Louise Sigfrid from Oxford University. An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox, a viral disease, was confirmed in May 2022. The initial cluster of cases was found in the United Kingdom, where the first case was detected on May 6, 2022 in an individual with travel links to Nigeria. The President Biden administration this month declared the outbreak of monkeypox a public health emergency. Who is at risk? What are the clinical guideline recommendations? Dr. Sigfrid has been involved in the public health response since the beginning of the current outbreak and recently published a paper examining the clinical guidelines for prevention and treatment of monkeypox. 

Our second interview is with regular contributor and registered radiologist and medical malpractice attorney, Dr. MedLaw. She tells us all about what “loss of chance” means in a medical malpractice claim. Under the loss of chance doctrine, a doctor can be held liable for causing the patient's loss of a chance to be cured if the doctor negligently fails to diagnose a curable disease and the patient is harmed by the disease. 

Enjoy listening!

Additional reading

Webb E, et al. Availability, scope and quality of monkeypox clinical management guidelines globally: a systematic review. BMJ Glob Health. 2022 Aug;7(8):e009838. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009838. PMID: 35973747.  

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Thanks for listening!