Silence the doctors, harm the children

That means questioning evidence, challenging assumptions and raising concerns when treatments may cause harm.

This is not insubordination. It is the very foundation of responsible medical practice.

When regulators punish clinicians for participating in legitimate scientific debate, they do not strengthen public trust. In fact, US-based surveys show a sharp decline in public confidence in doctors since the start of the pandemic and the severe suppression of dissenting medical opinions.

Silencing debate weakens public confidence and trust in authority and that trust is not easily regained. Because the public expects doctors to speak the truth about medicine, even when that truth is inconvenient or politically uncomfortable. They expect Doctors to, "first do no harm".

Regulators must return to their purpose

Australia has nearly one million registered health practitioners. They deserve a regulator focused on one core responsibility: investigating harm in clinical practice and protecting patients.

Even parliamentary scrutiny has recommended that notifications accepted by AHPRA be limited to clinical issues relating to patient safety.

Yet Senate inquiries have also raised a troubling concern: many of the investigators assessing complaints against doctors are not medically trained.

Evidence presented to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs indicated that only around a quarter of AHPRA investigators have a health background.

Medical practitioners have repeatedly warned that investigators without clinical training may lack the expertise to properly assess complex medical evidence or understand the realities of clinical practice.

The result can be ridiculous situations where a highly qualified specialist or professor of medicine finds themselves restricted from participating in scientific debate because a regulator, who may have no clinical background at all, considers their professional opinion problematic.

At the same time, serious allegations of clinical harm continue to emerge within the health system, yet many appear to receive little or no further action.

Recent reports describe dozens of women considering legal action after allegedly undergoing unnecessary or excessive gynaecological surgeries over many years, raising substantial questions about clinical oversight and patient safety.