Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

How the system hunts physicians who refuse to kneel

Atharva Joshi, MD
Physician
March 30, 2025
Share
Tweet
Share

They never said it outright. Not at first.

They didn’t have to.

I was a physician at the edge of the Republic, serving those the system had long since forgotten. When the last doctors left, I remained. I healed. I endured. I became necessary.

And for that, the system turned.

Not with conviction, but suspicion.

Not with verdict, but process.

Not for action—but for what I represented.

In a frosty room on an island where brown skin walks every street and fills every waiting room, I sat alone. A tribunal of pallid judgment arrayed before me. Imported robes, foreign eyes. Even the silence spoke of exile. Across from my trammeled figure, the polished emblem of progressivism: Speaking for justice, serving power. Yet even the appearance of progress could not conceal the truth: The room did not serve justice—it served power.

And then came the filing.

Not about conduct.

About culture. That “my culture” made me unfit.

No outrage.

No gavel.

Just the quiet hiss of a record accepting it all.

This was never a hearing. It was a gauntlet.

A performance of power.

A reminder of my place.

And I am not the only one. Every minority physician has seen the edge of this room. Some have stood in its doorway. Some have been dragged inside.

But I am not here to tell just my story. Mine is only unusual because the system whispered the quiet part aloud.

This is not about me.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s about you.

You—the Black physician: “You’re not the doctor.”

You—the Indian resident mistaken for custodial staff.

You—the Hawaiian, the Puerto Rican, the Arab, the Other—whose truth is second-guessed, whose skin and stance and silence are welcomed as a threat.

The system rarely hunts us in daylight. It bleeds us in bureaucracy.

No arrest. No headline. Just erosion.

But now and then, it slips. It names the unspoken.

It happened to me.

It will happen again.

So don’t just survive. Don’t just endure. Let us fight back—strategically, deliberately, and without becoming their next casualty.

1. The chameleon principle

The system protects only what it needs. Become essential. Build quiet functions no one else can replicate. Let your name appear in every key process. Do not draw attention. Draw necessity.

When they try to remove you, the structure should limp.

When they doubt your value, their operations should flinch.

A chameleon doesn’t vanish. It becomes the thing the predator can’t afford to eat.

2. Weaponized absence

If they dismiss you, disappear—but leave behind a crater.

Let the department falter. Let the inbox flood. Let the wounds go untreated. And do not speak. Silence makes the hole louder.

When patients ask where you went, let the answer humiliate.

When systems break in your absence, do not return.

Let them crawl back on broken glass.

3. Reputation obfuscation

If they cannot define you, they cannot destroy you.

Stop being a title. Start being a shape. Operate across domains—medicine, teaching, strategy, leadership. Use different names if needed. Do not lie; just don’t let them see your whole silhouette.

Be two steps ahead of the smear. If they erase one version of you, three others remain.

4. Narrative supremacy

If you don’t control your story, they will weaponize it. Do not wait for vindication. Build your legend in real time. Write. Publish. Teach. Document. Let their attack become your archive.

A smear campaign is just a biography with the names rearranged.

Make it yours. Own the ink. And when they try to shame you, let the receipts speak louder than the slander.

5. Yamdoot doctrine

When they capture you? Detonate—strategically.

Keep records. Track injustice. Build a dossier.

And when the moment comes, release it all. Not as a tantrum. As judgment.

Let the damage be permanent.

Let the blowback burn upward, not outward.

This is not about vengeance.

It’s about rendering their targeting mechanisms obsolete.

So don’t just survive. Don’t just endure.

Fight—strategically.

Live—deliberately.

And remain—undefeated.

Atharva Joshi is a board-certified U.S. family physician, educator, and writer with a career dedicated to underserved and rural communities across the United States. He has served in both clinical leadership and frontline roles, participated in rural public health initiatives for Indigenous and medically marginalized populations, and mentored pre-medical students from marginalized backgrounds.

Dr. Joshi is also an advocate for physicians and other health care professionals facing institutional abuse, narrative erasure, and retaliatory legal tactics. His writing explores the intersection of medicine, identity, and power.

He is a graduate of the University of Texas McGovern Medical School and holds additional distinction as a Diplomate of the American Academy of Family Physicians. His work combines the precision of clinical medicine with the strategic clarity of systems-level analysis.

Prev

How doctors can help IBD patients manage symptoms between visits

March 30, 2025 Kevin 0
…
Next

Why systemic thinking can transform both therapy and medicine

March 30, 2025 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
How doctors can help IBD patients manage symptoms between visits
Next Post >
Why systemic thinking can transform both therapy and medicine

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • How physicians can engage on social media

    Alpa Patel Shah, DO
  • Social media: Striking a balance for physicians and parents

    Dawn Baker, MD
  • We need more physicians in politics and (social) media

    James Mattson, MD
  • I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

    Casey P. Schukow, DO
  • Essential health messaging tips for physicians [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • Personal attacks and sexual harassment of physicians on social media [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD

More in Physician

  • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

    Maureen Gibbons, MD
  • Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

    Andy Lazris, MD and Alan Roth, DO
  • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

    Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD
  • International doctors blocked by visa delays as U.S. faces physician shortage

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
    • Understanding depression beyond biology: the power of therapy and meaning

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

      Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib | Physician
    • Addressing U.S. vaccine inequities in vulnerable communities [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
    • Understanding depression beyond biology: the power of therapy and meaning

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

      Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib | Physician
    • Addressing U.S. vaccine inequities in vulnerable communities [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

How the system hunts physicians who refuse to kneel
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...