Unsolicited Dermatologic Opinions: Ethical, Moral, and Legal Issues

Dermatologists often encounter skin lesions or rashes on strangers or acquaintances in non-clinical settings. Some of these lesions or eruptions may cause significant morbidity, be transmissible or even be potentially fatal. Does the dermatologist have a moral, professional or legal obligation to act? This chapter examines the ethical principles that guide how to act in such situations, the benefits and risks of offering unsolicited medical opinions, the legal issues regarding unsolicited diagnoses in the non-clinical setting, the conditions necessary to justify offering such opinions, as well as how to do so. Case scenarios involving a severe sunburn, an untreatable genodermatosis with potentially serious late complications, an obvious mutilating lesion, and potentially lethal neoplasms are analyzed according to the principles discussed in this chapter.