Doctors aren't reporting dangerous doctors

Here's a link to an AP report on a recent study by a Harvard Medical School doctor which found that "a surprising 17 percent of the doctors surveyed had direct, personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician in their workplaces," but that "[o]ne-third of those doctors had not reported the matter to authorities[.]"

Any person, including a doctor, that engages in dangerous behavior should be held accountable. If, as a profession, doctors won't police themselves in order to keep their patients safe, who are we going to rely upon to do so? The only other mechanism to hold doctors accountable is a medical malpractice lawsuit when a patient is actually harmed due to a doctor's dangerous behavior. It's strange that doctors will usually speak out against trial lawyers, but won't consistently speak out against the dangers lurking within their own profession.