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The ABC’s Four Corners program God Complex should be regarded as a catalyst for change. Speaking up — safely, lawfully and together — is the first step.
The message is clear: the time for silence is over. The health system must lead, not lag, in complying with workplace laws — before the next crisis or media exposé forces us to do so. There are serious legal, financial and reputational consequences for inaction and non-compliance with contemporary workplace health and safety (WHS) laws.
The medical profession stands at a crucial crossroad: do we speak up to address abuse in our workplaces or are we complicit?
In response to the ABC’s Four Corners recent airing of God Complex, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons issued a public statement concluding: “While the vast majority of surgeons are dedicated professionals who make a substantial contribution to patients and their communities, we recognise that unacceptable behaviour by a minority can have serious consequences for individuals and for trust in the profession”.
In this article, I will outline laws and codes of conduct to assist most of the dedicated medical practitioners to manage the minority of colleagues who perpetrate medical workplace abuse.
God Complex brought into sharp focus what the medical profession has been grappling with for a very long time. Hierarchical abuse is unlawful, harmful to patients, staff, students and the community — and a colossal waste of the health system’s scarce resources.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA), the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF), Medical Deans of medical schools, colleges, medical indemnity organisations, movements like A Better Culture and Civility Saves Lives, as well as many other dedicated clinicians (here, here, here, here, here) have relentlessly pushed for change and have implemented many worthwhile initiatives to eliminate unlawful bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and racism in medicine. Despite this concerted effort, annual medical training surveys conducted by the Medical Board have documented intractable medical workplace abuse of doctors in training, mainly perpetrated by senior doctors over the last six years.
The ABC’s central question — why have doctors allowed this to persist? — deserves a transparent public response.
In my response, let me be very clear.
The purpose of this article is not about any individual. It is to support anyone who was directly or indirectly triggered by the findings of the ABC investigation; to emphasise that all medical practitioners must comply with WHS and other laws and codes to uphold the highest standards of patient care and maintain public trust; to prevent another damaging media exposé of medical workplace abuse, and to speak up constructively by focusing on system-wide solutions.
As the first part of this series for the MJA Insight+, I will address some common myths that are deterring the medical profession from speaking up.
Myth 1: what doctors do in their personal lives is none of our business
A medical practitioner’s personal conduct can impact their registration, even if the conduct occurs outside of work. This can be enforced by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).
These rules under the Good Medical Practice: a Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia apply to any doctor charged with serious criminal offences such as assault, domestic violence, fraud, drink driving convictions, possessing or using illicit drugs recreationally, or alleged criminal vandalism or malicious damage.
Private actions that damage public confidence suggest poor judgement or show a lack of control and may be seen as professional misconduct. Even without a criminal conviction, personal conduct that is dishonest, violent, threatening, discriminatory or exploitive can lead to regulatory consequences.
It is therefore appropriate for employers to remind doctors to always maintain high standards of conduct both inside and outside of work.
Myth 2: work health and safety laws cannot be enforced in health care
Most health care workplaces claim to place patient care first and to have a zero-tolerance’ approach to staff misconduct and abuse. It is well known that patient health and safety is significantly influenced by the health and safety of the health workforce, and yet, many employers do not comply with or enforce contemporary WHS laws.
Recent government legislated changes to the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice to prevent work-related mental injury, the amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act (here, here), the national anti-racism framework, the Whistleblowers Act and industrial manslaughter laws (which also address suicide due to work-related mental injury) are relevant to all Australian workplaces and health care is not exempt. In previous MJA Insight+ articles (here, here), I summarised the major penalties for perpetrators and their employers (including directors and officers) for non-compliance with new WHS laws.
Recent changes to WHS laws are clear, and the moral responsibility of the whole medical profession to uphold them is undeniable — especially to protect staff who may feel powerless to speak up.
Myth 3: doctors cannot speak up without ruining their medical careers
Unfortunately, calling out poor medical workplace cultures and conditions can be detrimental for early career doctors because of the highly competitive nature of training programs and the short tenure of their contracts. Often, early interventions by workplace wellbeing officers (when they are available) and harm minimisation strategies prevent problems from escalating. However, when there is a climate of fear of health system hierarchies, doctors who raise risks, report incidents or make complaints may be unfairly labelled as troublemakers and sustain career damage.
Notwithstanding these barriers, doctors in training can safely make their voices heard by participating in anonymous AMA and Medical Board surveys, completing deidentified workplace incident reporting systems, attending confidential employee assistance programs, and enlisting protections under the Whistleblowers Act. These actions are more powerful than currently realised in exposing the scale of the problem.
Senior doctors have a special responsibility under WHS laws to collectively speak up about hostile work cultures and safeguard our trainees. This means modelling respectful behaviours and mentoring junior colleagues in professionalism. When multiple like-minded senior doctors raise concerns to employers together — and request formal workplace health and safety assessments — the issues are reframed as systemic failures, not personal disputes. Under contemporary WHS laws, this should activate employers’ legal responsibilities under government legislation on WHS.
Myth 4: Narcissistic doctors lack insight and therefore cannot change
A doctor’s lack of insight into the negative impact of their behaviours can be caused by a number of conditions — such as substance abuse disorder, other serious mental illness (including narcissistic personality disorder [NPD]), and cognitive impairment. It is the responsibility of medical colleagues to ensure doctors with these conditions receive urgent specialised care.
Narcissism in doctors is often bandied around to excuse uncivil behaviours in the medical profession. Many doctors are aware they can display narcissistic traits when under intense pressure and they possess the self-awareness to immediately apologise for any uncharacteristic behaviours. The more we recognise this, the less it is a problem.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is very different. It is a serious psychiatric condition that requires comprehensive specialised clinical assessment. Doctors with NPD may threaten litigation after being slighted by constructive feedback, and then conduct character assassinations on those who could threaten their status. These tactics are very effective ways to deter bystanders from intervening effectively.
While managing damaging behaviours is challenging in any workplace, the medical profession is in a better position than most to intervene early in cases of lack of insight due to temporary or permanent impairment — to prevent patient harm and reputation damage.
Myth 5: doctors in training should toughen up, especially women
Medical workforce committees, surveys, industrial actions, and countless first-hand accounts identify the same health system issues: Australia’s medical workforce is leaving. We are in the grip of a preventable retention and participation crisis — fuelled by poor working conditions and chronic under-resourcing. Skeleton staffing levels, excessive workloads, unsafe rosters, deferral of leave entitlements, and health care access blocks due to the financial non-viability of health care are creating disunity, tension and conflict among colleagues and harming clinicians as well as patients. Doctors in training are particularly vulnerable in this environment.
Within this context, safe and healthy workplaces are not optional. They are a legal requirement, a critical measure for patient safety, and a cornerstone for retaining a functioning, skilled medical workforce — irrespective of gender.
God Complex was re-traumatising for many who have experienced bullying, harassment, and abuse in medicine. Health care systems continue to underestimate the prevalence and impact of work-related psychological injuries, including acute stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in doctors. The re-traumatisation of colleagues demands evidence-based, trauma-informed care, professional support, peer understanding, and a clear assurance from the profession that their experiences will no longer be minimised or dismissed.
Telling doctors in training to “toughen up” under these conditions is not resilience-building — it is a form of abuse.
The first solution: speak up
God Complex ignited a spark, and it is clear that the medical profession is listening. This moment is more than just another exposé.
The call to action is different this time —and even more urgent than before.
The health system should be an exemplar of WHS compliance and a leader not a laggard on cultural safety in the best interests of a healthy clinical workforce, and by extension, healthy communities and patients. Investment in safe systems of work not only saves lives — it also saves scarce health care dollars.
The medical profession is at a crucial crossroad.
- Do we unite to collectively comply with our positive duty to create healthy, safe medical workplaces to comply with new WHS and other laws together (here)?
- Or do we, through silence and inactions, inadvertently seek enforcement, penalties and fines from work health and safety regulators and invite another media investigation (here)?
Do we speak up or are we complicit?
Clinical Professor Leanne Rowe AM is a GP and non-executive director. About two decades ago, her registrar was killed by a patient — a tragedy that shaped her career-long advocacy for healthy medical workplaces. She is a co-author of the 2nd edition book ‘Every Doctor: Healthier Doctors = Healthier Patients’ published internationally by Taylor and Francis
Please consider joining the conversation and using the MJA Insight+ comments section anonymously and constructively.
Where to get help
Your trusted GP or psychologist
Call the Doctors’ Health Line 24/7: 1800 006 888 to be directed to your local doctors’ health service. Doctors’ Health Services are free and available across Australia for doctors and medical students.
OR
NSW and ACT: 02 9437 6552
NT and SA: 08 8366 0250
Queensland: 07 3833 4352
Tasmania and ACT: 1300374 377
Victoria: 1300 330 543
WA: 08 9321 3098
New Zealand: 0800 471 2654
OR be connected to a counsellor through Drs4Drs: 1300 374 377
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Other supports:
- Hand in Hand Peer Support
- Your employer or college may have a wellness program or a confidential employee assistance program (EAP).
- Your union (ASMOF, HSU, AMA) for confidential representation or advocacy.
- Confidential legal advice, but as this can be personally expensive, combative and time consuming, first seek information freely available through the Human Rights Commission or State Anti-Discrimination Board, the Fair Work Commission, or your state WHS regulator.
- There are many other supports available on the websites of our member medical organisations, colleges, movements such as Crazy Socks for Docs and the Hush Foundation, and others.
The statements or opinions expressed in this article reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy of the AMA, the MJA or InSight+ unless so stated.
Subscribe to the free InSight+ weekly newsletter here. It is available to all readers, not just registered medical practitioners.
If you would like to submit an article for consideration, send a Word version to mjainsight-editor@ampco.com.au.
The novel idea of simply speaking up ignores the reality of power imbalance.
As a Resident doctor I formally complained to Med Admin about sexual abuse from a senior Surgeon. The response was more or less “try to keep out of his way”. The individual was (and remains) very influential within medicine in my state, and served several terms on the Medical Board, despite his bad behavior being commonly acknowledged by those who have had to work with him.
What hope do the Residents, nurses etc really have?
Honestly, I’ve done many surgical terms as a female medical student and junior doctor and only one surgeon had anger management issues and usually not towards us students. The worst consultant bullying I ever experienced was a male respiratory physician everyone else called “nice” who I’d met 5 minutes prior for the first time and absolutely berated me because I was unable to think of a question to ask and was unfortunately a shy introverted person who preferred having time to think things over. Anyway, that was the first time a fellow doctor made me cry as a 3rd year student, an insane power difference, because I couldn’t think of a question to ask.
I had an absolutely horrible experience with bullying at every level of my time in hospital – including racist and sexist comments daily from patients. For a woman of colour it can be absolutely relentless. I left in the end, I didn’t want to go back after having my daughter, rather not carry the mental load home with me.
Unfortunately, “Myth 1: what doctors do in their personal lives is none of our business” is part of the problem. The gold standard of industrial relations should be, could you sack your secretary for this? Or even more relevant, could your partner the builder sack their CFMEU member staff for this? Doctors have lousy trade unions, few are even ACTU affiliated.
The Journal of Vascular Surgery was forced to retract a 2020 paper looking at what they considered ‘unprofessional’ social media posts, which included posts on controversial issues like abortion, and photos showing doctors drinking alcohol, or dressed immodestly like wearing bikinis. The furore included #MedBikini posts, with many diptych ‘Me in my bikini with cocktail poolside on holidays, me in my scrubs about to start a transplant’ memes.
Every doctor I know has had a car accident when driving tired due to work: does that “suggest poor judgement or show a lack of control”? None of us spoke up to demand a taxi home (and back tomorrow) with free parking for our cars abandoned at the hospital. Not one administrator lost their job for failure to adequately monitor staff fatigue and safety.
When the federal regulator exerts coercive control such as: “Regulatory action may be considered if the way a practitioner expresses their views: …risks the public’s confidence in their profession” there is an explicit need to self-censor. Is it ‘unprofessional’ to say: “I’m too tired to do a clinical handover, I need to go home right now”? Or to admit that you were working beyond safe hours, due to an emergency? Or write about working while fatigued, like Adam Kay’s “This is Going to Hurt”?
If your colleague phones in sick, can you refuse a request to work harder/longer, caring for their patients as well as your full workload? And does a double-work day dissuade you from calling in sick next time you feel unwell? Bullying is internalised by a system with no reserve capacity, other than overloading those who are actually at the coalface.
As an allied health professional I’ve seen bad behaviour directed towards junior doctors and to other staff, including myself. Some doctors are great to work with and respectful of others. Others give the impression that they think they are superior, not because of their job title but better as a person, and therefore other staff don’t deserve to be respected.
The subject of the 4corners program seems to be a bad person and a bad surgeon. That should not be ignored or tolerated. But this was also bad journalism.
As unpleasant as that man may be, neither the College of Surgeons nor any other code of silence etc. is to blame for the suicide of his consensual partner when he cheated on her! His infidelity may indicate something about his personality, but that is all.
The program then made a leap to being clear that the only solution was to enforce 50/50 gender equity in surgical training. As if the entire reason for that individual’s behavior was because he was male, and that therefore all males are similarly inclined!
Could I suggest that male and female surgeons, and other people would do well to refrain from such behavior, and that we consider selecting trainees on merit, and a willingness and aptitude to do such training.
I am more than willing to support eliminating bullying in our workplace, being open about adverse outcomes, and minimizing discrimination or harassment. It can be ironic that when we speak about these issues how strong the stereotypical generalizations can be, and how illogical conclusions can be arrived at through dicrimination.
The College of Surgeons has come a long way in recognizing the value of establishing a culture of respect and good conduct – could I suggest perhaps further than a lot of other industries and professions?
Unfortunately sociopathic individuals do make it through at times, just as they do in politics, law, and business in general. All industries and professions should have a code, training and a framework to reinforce that such behaviour is unacceptable.
Most medical practitioners are caring individuals that do not have a God Complex.
Toxic Workplace environments are rife, and not just in hospitals. It saddens me to read some of the comments from this article that my colleagues are still suffering bullying in hospitals. Thank you to Professor Leanne Rowe for continuing to address this problem in her series of powerful articles and encouraging young doctors to speak out.
I graduated in 1986 and in my early days, suffered bullying by nurses whilst working in the hospitals. It was one of the reasons I left the specialty paths I was taking.
It was stressful and horrible!
What I do recall though, how kind many of my supervisors (consultants) and colleagues were to me and to this day have fond memories and gratitude for their kindness and mentorship. I was blessed and it led me to be a good doctor. To this day I love my work in general practice as I have more control of my environment and relationships with staff and patients. We work from a culture of love, kindness and respect.
Every doctor and health professional, including nurses, HR , executives etc need a course and regular discussion in kindness and gratitude to help nurture and foster a culture and environment of calm, respect, kindness and harmony in our workplace.
Other strategies include calm music, beautiful creative surroundings, nature exposure in the workplace, healthy discussions on self care, opportunities for safe group venting and support, and sharing positive stories for inspiration. Kindness is the bridge.
It’s good for all of us, it’s good for our patients! It’s good for healthcare. One lecture taught in kindness is not enough. It needs to be ongoing.
The HUSH foundation is a not for profit organisation trying to build a culture of kindness in hospital. Now is the time to embrace this body into every hospital.
The strategies and solutions are there! Its not new!
Our patients will benefit more importantly!
Hospitals are after all meant to be a healing environment. This is so important for all of us; for our patients, our students, our colleagues, our community and more importantly ourselves.
Hierarchical abuse within the healthcare system is rampant. It is unlawful, immoral and unethical.
The effects on individuals are catastrophic.
Leanne highlights the multifaceted interplay that many organisations, clinicians, initiatives and movements have relentlessly actioned to push for positive change to eradicate malignant clinician behaviours and regain traction consistent with contemporary WHS Law within the medical profession. Still, we are here today. And still, hierarchical abuse takes place, blowing up on our TVs and phones as the media exposés hit, shocking many, retraumatising several, but also a numb reality to a significant proportion of healthcare workers.
The ABCs question, “Why have doctors allowed this to persist?” doesn’t go far enough. A more confronting question might be, “Collectively, why have doctors AND healthcare executives allowed repeated toxic behaviours and hierarchical abuse to persist?”
It is clear. Money is the bottom line. The root of all evil.
Congratulations Louise and Leanne on being a catalyst of change.
This is only the start.
Sadly, I stood up for a female colleague and it cost me my fellowship. I’ll never be able to prove the college failed me in my last exam and then made it extraordinarily difficult (almost impossible) to continue. Sadly speaking out can cost your career, as in my case the old boys club stuck together and decided to stick it to me for standing up. I wasn’t a trouble maker and did so carefully and professionally.
I’ve moved on but am very concerned that specialty colleges are not subject to industrial relations law as they are not an employer. They wield much power to end careers without repercussions in the real world. To me it doesn’t feel safe at all to speak out. I like your ideology and philosophy but I find it hard to see how it can work in the real world unless these powerhouses are transparent and actually accountable.
Whilst the issue of zero tolerance to BDH behaviours is meritorious, there are a number of complaints against doctors that are deliberately misrepresented. Some concerns are genuine but the process is far too easily abused. There can be no doubt that any complaint, whether vexatious, misrepresented or not, is career ending for most doctors. This is especially the case if AHPRA and their law firm get involved.
The persecution of doctors has been made all too easy. The persecution of doctors is now a lucrative business for all but doctors.
The unfair persecution of doctors must stop before more doctors careers or lives are ended.
This article is a courageous and compassionate call to action. Professor Leanne Rowe speaks hard truths with clarity and care, and highlights what many in the medical profession feel, but struggle to voice: that speaking up about abuse, harm and unsafe cultures is not just difficult — it can feel professionally and personally risky. Her acknowledgment of these risks, particularly for doctors in training, is powerful and validating. It’s hard to speak up in hierarchical systems, especially when fear, silence and inaction have been normalised. And yet…this article gives hope that safe, lawful, collective action is possible — and increasingly necessary under contemporary WHS legislation. We are of course as doctors helping hold much of the culture in many of our institutions and stay for decades, for careers-long durations. There is time to make and impact and influence.
Professor Rowe’s emphasis on shared responsibility, trauma-informed approaches, and the legal and moral imperative to protect each other and our patients is timely and persuasive.
Most doctors are well intentioned, hard working – and from the data – burnt out.
The myths she dismantles are ones we urgently need to let go of if we want a sustainable and ethical health system.
This article should be required reading for all doctors, medical leaders, educators and policymakers. Speaking up is hard — but together, working collectively, it could be transformative.
Unfortunately many doctors do not speak up for fear of reputational damage, isolation and to protect their own mental and emotional health. The culture has not supported speaking up for a long time and so requires significant structural intervention, which has begun. And significant upskilling of doctors, other HCW and administration. Changing culture and skillfully implementing change requires a skill set that is under developed in doctors because it has been seen as not required. Thank you Leanne for an excellent comprehensive article building on your previous calls to action.
As a medical student on the last day of a placement my supervisor told be I was utterly incompetent. Then he put his hand on my knee and said after a big shock like this it wouldn’t be safe for me to drive home and I should stay at his place. I drove 4 hours straight without stopping. He failed me for that topic, the uni refused to even investigate and as a result I had to do an extra term, which meant loosing my dream job that included a plastic surgery rotation.
I never had another chance at a plastics rotation, there was no point in applying because getting in was about who you knew not what you knew.
I eventually had enough of working in hospitals and chose to do GP training to do skin cancer work. In my final training term I started having flashbacks of what happened, triggered by my supervisor who was touching me inappropriately, I was terrified that if I said no he would fail me. It didn’t help that the previous supervisor who had harassed me all those years ago was in the media for sexually harassing a female trainee and claimed it was consensual.
It’s not enough to simply say things are different now, it’s safe to talk about it. Our entire medical system motivates the people within it with fear. It costs people’s jobs, it costs their careers and sometimes it costs their lives. People don’t speak up because they don’t believe it will make a difference because they never have before. That sort of deep rooted fear doesn’t just go away overnight.
A friend asked me why I didn’t report my supervisor for sexual harassment, it was because I just wanted it to be over, when I left that work place I felt like I had barely escaped. I didn’t think the collage would believe the report and I was afraid that he would find a way to take away my fellowship in retaliation.
A well-considered, courageous and factual critique about the issue of malignant behaviour behind the scenes in medicine and medical training.
Most certainly there are doctors who are the antithesis of this, and who lead with respect and kindness to affect change.
But this conversation would not be necessary if a covertly-accepted culture of bullying and abuse did not exist in medicine. Where a person feels inherently superior over another, comfortable causing humiliation and fear AND believes themselves to be untouchable, therein lies a culture that will cause enormous harm.
We are long overdue for a confronting national conversation on this.
The issue of bullying in medicine is comparable to generational trauma. You have a generation of senior doctors who were bullied as juniors. Some perceive it to be an integral part of their training, some have internalised it as how you train juniors and hold them to a high standard. (It’s enlightening to see patterns of toxic behaviour emerging from graduates of particular training programs.)
Every doctor who takes referrals or is in charge of managing juniors needs to be taught how to deliver feedback — in particular, that feedback does not need to be rude to be effective.
They need to be taught the difference between remediation and ventilation.
They need to be reminded that junior staff are their colleagues and fellow human beings.
They also need to see their peers incurring consequences for bullying behaviour.
What has the RACS done apart from issue that statement? No deregistration of any complained-about surgeons?
How frequently do medicos apologise in real life? None in my experience to date.
So who monitors and actually investigates the great and the good investigators?
Looking for a ‘god complex’ organisation, try simply consider AHPRA.
It is Star Chamber QANGO pure and simple.
An example par excellence of an uncontrolled bureaucratic ‘judgemental’ instrument that wades directly into individuals lives in secrecy with no legal recourse available for any wrongly accused individual to simply obtain both legal and monetary redress for the catastrophic personal and business effects caused by its many failures. Guilty until proven innocent when wrongly accused by any nonsense complaint. It has secrecy as its core operating modus operandi.
Name one other profession or union group in this country that is subject to such an Orwellian monstrosity such as this Canberra entity.
Try it on the lawyers.
bullying in the workplace includes from administrators.
my health district has a “no bulllying” policy and yet bullying is RIFE from local nursing and medical executive.
Workplace culture is paramount to ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of all. What was missing from this article and would be a feature in itself is harms to patients. Harms occur from bullying, to patient, insufficient and ineffective team communication styles, insufficient and ineffective supervision and training of junior staff (who then get the blame when there are patient harms). Patient harms cost can be measured in many ways, direct health care, impacts to recover, income and lifestyle. Additionally, claims of suing hospitals is on the increase because of harms, attributable the article and to all of the above harms to patients.
If only this was a straightforward matter. Unfortunately, the culture within many healthcare institutions is such that there continues to be consequences for individuals who try and speak out, particularly if the perpetrator is in a far more powerful position than they are. Retaliation is an ongoing issue.
Plus, the focus of some institutions on patient throughput (for surgical procedures) can influence the decision making that is being made by the leadership as to how best to deal with workplace conflict. One has to wonder whether this was a factor with what came to light in the 4 Corner report. Hence one of the other major unasked questions is what actually are the senior hospital leadership and managements ongoing responsibilities here?
“ The first solution: speak up “. There is a culture of silence in the health industry. Nearly all health staff in Australia sign agreements – these agreements are enforced both in official and unofficial ways. There is a risk to speaking up. Many leaders in the health system may not want policies such as speaking up – particularly to the media – changed.
Health departments in particular have media policies that restrict comments. Many contracts explicitly state that unauthorized media communication is a breach of employment terms and may result in disciplinary action.
Health staff are generally not allowed to speak to the media in any professional capacity without prior approval from the department’s media or communications team. This includes interviews, social media posts, or opinion pieces that relate to their work, department policies, or public health issues.
Staff are usually instructed to refer all media inquiries to the health department’s media office. Even factual, non-controversial comments can be restricted to avoid misrepresentation or miscommunication.
While Australia has whistleblower laws, protections do not usually extend to public media disclosures, particularly if internal reporting channels haven’t been used.
Justifications for these policies include –
• To protect patient confidentiality
• To ensure consistent messaging to the public
• To avoid reputational damage or legal liability
• To maintain public trust during emergencies
These policies suppress transparency and accountability, particularly when health staff want to raise concerns about safety, resource shortages, or policy failures or there is a mismatch between internal realities and public messaging.
Health staff who speak out risk being disciplined, demoted, or dismissed, even when raising legitimate concerns in the public interest.
The media can be an effective means to bring about change. I challenge the author and others to see if policies with regards to speaking up to the media can be changed. I suspect we all know the answer.
Myth: Male surgeons are the only group to abuse their power and bully
While many men are perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse of power, women are certainly not immune from doing these things. I personally suffered mentally and career-wise from a very smart and manipulative bully and she happened to be a female surgeon.
Interesting that the last third of the Four corner program (15 mins of it) somehow involved gender issues rather than bullying/power imbalance. As if there are no bullying issues in nursing (a profession mostly dominated by women),
Unless the Whistleblowers act can guarantee no repercussions for the whistleblower, there will still be perpetrators who can leverage their position and power to make life very difficult for the whistleblower.
Hospitals tolerate things that wouldn’t be acceptable in other industries and the community.
We’ve all seen it and hospitals continue to make excuses. They don’t understand that incivility will actually cause harm to staff and also patients.