There’s a quiet rebellion happening in medicine. A movement of physicians no longer willing to sacrifice their humanity for productivity quotas, administrative burdens, or the illusion of perfection. We wrote White Coats, Courageous Hearts with thirteen other physicians to shine a light on this shift—voices reclaiming agency in a system that often forgets that doctors are human, too.

Alae Kawam, DO:

There has been a profound cultural shift—and an emerging rift—in the practice of medicine today. Many physicians enter large health care organizations with the expectation that their work will be meaningful, their compensation fair, and their ability to provide deep, human-centered care protected. Instead, many are met with burnout, moral injury, and the suffocating weight of bureaucracy.

Corporate medicine has taken hold. In this model, patient care is often reduced to what insurance companies will reimburse and what patients can afford. While scalable health care brings efficiency and reach, it often strips away what makes medicine meaningful: the ability to genuinely connect with and care for people. Within this framework, physicians are no longer viewed as an organization’s greatest asset, but rather as interchangeable labor—expected to produce more while being paid less.

As a physician, I’ve felt this pain firsthand. I’ve internalized the transactional nature of medicine today. For many of us—especially millennials—this is not the profession we envisioned.

We are known as the “therapy generation,” and for good reason. Setting boundaries, saying no, and rejecting workplace bullying are norms we bring with us. Yet to many senior physicians—Gen X and Boomers—these practices are misinterpreted as entitlement or lack of dedication. But we are not disinterested—we are disillusioned. We are also debt-ridden, overworked, and increasingly isolated. For our generation, overwork is no longer a badge of honor. The hustle culture of the past holds little appeal. We value our families, our faith, our fitness, and our mental well-being. We work hard, and we expect our work to respect us back.

Medicine was once a lifelong identity, a path to self-actualization. Today, it often feels like a contract stripped of personal agency. Millennials and Gen Z physicians increasingly prioritize sustainability over sacrifice. We still want to serve, but not at the cost of our health and humanity.

If you lead a health care organization, hear this: Valuing your physicians is not just compassionate—it’s strategic. Engaged doctors deliver better care. You don’t need to offer performative wellness programs or coupons for spa days. What we want is autonomy. For some, wellness means daily workouts; for others, it’s religious services or time with children. Let us decide what we need to stay whole.

The damage caused by the current system is real—and yet accountability remains elusive. If a physician develops anxiety from chronic work stress and requires treatment, shouldn’t that be considered a workplace injury? Shouldn’t workers’ compensation apply? These are not fringe questions. They are reflections of a system that urgently needs reform.

We must stop viewing health care as a service. It is not a transaction—it is a relationship grounded in trust, compassion, and care. I became a physician to serve and lead, not to become a “provider” in a machine. We are doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and technologists. But in the current structure, we are denied the ability to truly serve—or to lead.

Nicole Solomos, DO:

As doctors, we have a real need to connect with patients, and with each other. In the exam room, or in the office, having an empathetic conversation and listening to the other person is the single most important way to mend the divide in medicine.

In addition to the excessive demands currently placed on physicians by external sources, unfortunately, sometimes doctors create additional burdens by disparaging other doctors in a myriad of ways. Bias based on being an MD, not a DO, or the prestige of your medical school vs. someone else’s medical school. Some surgeons look down on non-surgeons. Some higher earners look down on those specialties that don’t earn as much money. There is bias based on how much one doctor might work vs. another—being on call, being in the OR, being in the office, etc. There is also judgment based on politics, religion, culture, race, or sexuality. Those who are challenging the norms in medicine vs. those that resolutely defend that this is “the science,” refusing to discuss anything else.

Is this the beginning of the end for physicians? The higher-ups standing on their mountaintop with swords drawn to knock down anyone that may threaten their position in the hierarchy? The staunch “follow the” scientists that went to prestigious institutions and are hanging on to their status for dear life? It seems that we are at a breaking point in the profession. The traditionalists vs. the renegades. There have been so many lies uncovered in the last decade. Papers that physicians based treatment on found to be fabricated. Studies that changed the face of health care for women, now shown to be largely false, causing countless women to suffer for many years. Even when the evidence is clear, there are naysayers and physicians that will not let go of their previous beliefs, based on now-disproven data.

And, of course, we are now in the throes of corporate medicine. Division is the name of the game. Doctors now have to make numbers. This destroys collegiality. It is every physician for themself. As busy as one may be, they still pack in patients, not giving overflow to another physician. Hospitals feel justified slashing salaries of physicians that are not busy, while other physicians in the same department see a ridiculous amount of patients.

So many doctors are working incredibly hard to provide good care, despite being devalued by institutions or even colleagues. We are all better off when doctors listen to each other and work together to find solutions to the pressing issues in medicine today.

It is time to rebuild a system that honors both the humanity of the healer and the healed.

Kim Downey is a physician advocate and physical therapist. Alae Kawam is a surgical pathologist. Nicole Solomos is a sports medicine physician.