I have spent my career believing in systems. As physicians, we are trained to trust oversight. We are taught that regulatory bodies exist to protect patients, maintain standards, and intervene when care falls below acceptable levels. We are taught that if we act ethically, document carefully, and prioritize patients, the system will ultimately be fair. What we are not trained for is what happens when that power becomes opaque.
Over the years, I have watched colleagues undergo regulatory investigations that had little to do with patient safety and everything to do with process, politics, or perception. Investigations that lasted months or years. Investigations where allegations shifted, expanded, or remained deliberately vague. Silence was advised, not because it was just, but because it was strategic.
The experience is quietly devastating.
Asymmetry of power and isolation
Physicians under investigation rarely speak publicly. Not because they have nothing to say, but because the system is structured to discourage it. Legal counsel urges restraint. Institutions urge compliance. Colleagues step back, unsure of what is safe to say or do. The result is isolation at precisely the moment support is most needed.
This is especially dangerous because of the asymmetry of power.
Regulatory bodies operate behind closed doors. Timelines are elastic. Consequences are immediate, often before conclusions are reached. Reputations suffer long before facts are established. A physician may continue working, but under a cloud that affects referrals, hospital dynamics, and professional confidence.
This is not accountability. This is erosion.
The psychological and fatal toll
The psychological toll is substantial. Anxiety, insomnia, hypervigilance, and a persistent sense of being watched are common. Many physicians describe a loss of professional identity. Some step away from leadership roles. Others narrow their practice to reduce risk. Some leave medicine entirely.
In the most severe cases, the consequences extend beyond careers.
There are documented instances in which physicians facing prolonged or aggressive regulatory processes have died during or shortly after an investigation. Causation is complex and rarely linear, but it is irresponsible to ignore how sustained institutional pressure, isolation, and reputational collapse can contribute to physical and psychological decline. These outcomes are almost never examined within the regulatory framework itself.
Silence surrounds these cases, just as it surrounds the investigations that precede them. That silence protects institutions more than it protects people.
A call for transparency and due process
There is an uncomfortable truth we must confront. Systems designed to protect can cause harm when they lack transparency, proportionality, and meaningful safeguards for those accused. Patient safety and physician dignity are not competing values. They are interdependent. A culture of fear does not improve care. It impairs clinical judgment, promotes defensive medicine, and discourages engagement with complexity.
Oversight matters. Accountability matters. But so does due process.
If we want resilient health care systems, we need regulators who are strong and restrained. We need processes that are timely, transparent, and humane. We must recognize that reputational harm can be permanent, even when no wrongdoing is ultimately found.
Above all, physicians must be allowed to speak about these experiences without being labeled defensive, disgruntled, or dangerous. Silence should never be the price of survival in a profession founded on trust.
Silence protects institutions. Conversation protects people.
If we want better medicine, we must examine not only clinical outcomes, but also the systems that govern those who provide care.
Jean Paul Brutus is a hand surgeon.
