Events
Event Information
Remote Event
Wed 24-Jun-2026, Microsoft Teams
INNEG invites you to this free lunchtime webinar examining how skin cancer claims unravel in practice, and how medical evidence is used to assess breach, causation, and counterfactual outcomes where timelines and disease progression are disputed.
This session will explore common failures in the recognition and interpretation of skin lesions, delays in referral or treatment, and how these factors interact with the natural history of different skin cancers. Particular attention will be given to situations where evidence is incomplete or inconsistent, and where prognostic uncertainty becomes central to liability and quantum arguments.
Skin cancer clinical negligence claims frequently involve complex and highly contested issues around diagnostic delay, missed referral opportunities, and disease progression. Variability in presentation, inconsistent clinical documentation, and uncertainty around tumour behaviour often make causation and prognosis particularly difficult to assess.
Drawing on extensive medico-legal and clinical oncology experience, the webinar will also address how environmental and occupational factors may be considered within clinical assessment, and how counterfactual outcomes are evaluated when earlier diagnosis or treatment is alleged.
This session will help you to:
- Understand how diagnostic delay and misinterpretation of skin lesions arise in clinical practice
- Appreciate the variability in presentation and progression across different skin cancers
- Identify how missed referral or treatment windows are assessed in negligence claims
- Strengthen causation arguments where evidence is inconsistent or contested
- Navigate prognostic uncertainty and counterfactual outcomes when assessing liability and damages
About the Speaker
Dr Stephen J Falk
Consultant Clinical Oncologist & Medico-Legal Expert Witness
Dr Stephen Falk is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist and highly experienced Medico-Legal Expert Witness with over 25 years’ experience providing expert opinion in clinical negligence litigation. He has been preparing medico-legal reports since the late 1990s and currently produces approximately 200–250 reports annually, with extensive experience of joint statements and trial evidence Clinically, Dr Falk is based in Bristol and has held senior leadership roles including Lead Cancer Clinician at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Trust and Clinical Director of the West of England Clinical Research Network. His areas of clinical expertise include skin cancer, lung cancer, upper gastrointestinal, hepato-biliary and pancreatic cancers, neuroendocrine tumours, and the delivery of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, including stereotactic techniques In his medico-legal practice, Dr Falk provides expert opinion on breach of duty, causation, condition, and prognosis, with a balanced claimant and defendant instruction profile. He is frequently instructed in cases involving alleged diagnostic delay, missed referral opportunities, and disputed treatment pathways, where the timing of intervention and its impact on outcome are central to the claim. Dr Falk has attended trial on multiple occasions and has been instructed in complex, high-value litigation, including group actions. His combination of frontline oncology practice, research leadership, and long-standing medico-legal experience enables him to provide clear, robust, and defensible opinions in cases involving prognostic uncertainty and counterfactual analysis.
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