Physicians are entrusted with one of the most critical and revered responsibilities in any society: the safeguarding of human life. However, in numerous developed countries, this trust is increasingly compromised by a rising culture of mistrust, litigation, sensationalism, and retribution. When unethical malpractice attorneys seek financial gain, overzealous regulators exceed their authority with bureaucratic fervor, unprofessional journalists fabricate headlines out of partial truths, or disgruntled patients turn complaints into weapons, the repercussions reach far beyond the physician’s standing. The unnecessary harm reverberates throughout the entire health care framework.
When doctors face unfounded accusations, the morale across the field plummets. Clinicians start to prioritize defensiveness over care. Rather than channeling their utmost efforts into diagnosis, education, and innovation, they operate on a defensive basis, opting for redundant tests, sidestepping complicated cases, and withdrawing from high-risk essential areas like obstetrics and pain management. This trend leads to the loss of the most talented individuals in the health system to burnout, premature retirement, or emigration. Consequently, there are fewer doctors, diminished bravery, less empathy, and reduced access to care for all.
The regulatory and media machinery that often touts “accountability” can repeatedly foster a culture of cruelty. A single deceptive headline can obliterate years of service. An unfounded allegation can escalate into prolonged investigations, social stigma, and financial disaster. The chilling impact spreads outward: Medical students observe the public denouncement of their mentors and wonder if pursuing this vocation is worth the toll. When professionals exist in fear, medicine transitions from a healing practice to a survival strategy.
And here lies a truth few wish to acknowledge: The tolling bell affects everyone. When a single physician experiences wrongdoing or is forced out of practice due to malice, the community loses more than just a doctor; it loses continuity of care, mentorship, innovation, and stability. The next time a child urgently requires treatment, a senior needs pain alleviation, or a pregnant woman seeks skilled assistance, the system may find itself lacking the necessary response. Each unjust assault on a doctor diminishes the social contract that ensures the safety of the rest of us. The bell that tolls for that physician similarly tolls for patients, hospitals, lawyers, regulators, journalists, and the trust that unites our society. As John Donne reflected, “No man is an island, every man is a part of the main. Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
To restore confidence in medicine, society must re-learn to safeguard and honor its healers. Accountability must never morph into persecution, and transparency must never devolve into spectacle. We must remember that when physicians fall, not due to negligence, but from the harshness of a broken system, patients, families, and communities are the ones who bear the brunt. Genuine justice in health care signifies fairness for physicians and all those committed to healing others.
Olumuyiwa Bamgbade is a distinguished leader in health care, deeply invested in value-based health care delivery. A specialized physician with comprehensive training in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Korea, Dr. Bamgbade offers a global viewpoint on clinical practice and health systems innovation.
He holds an adjunct professor position at academic institutions throughout Africa, Europe, and North America and has authored 45 peer-reviewed scientific papers in journals indexed by PubMed. His international research collaborations extend to over 20 countries, including Nigeria, Australia, Iran, Mozambique, Rwanda, Kenya, Armenia, South Africa, the U.K., China, Ethiopia, and the U.S.
Dr. Bamgbade is the director of Salem Pain Clinic in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada—a clinic focused on specialty and research. His work at the clinic emphasizes pain management, health equity, injury rehabilitation, neuropathy, insomnia, societal safety, substance misuse, medical sociology, public health, medicolegal science, and perioperative care.