Hierarchy in medicine is something almost no one talks about in the medical field. The general axiom in medicine is that the more senior the doctor, the better he/she is in the practice of medicine. This unwritten rule is generally true in most cases since with experience comes judgement which is a key skill in medicine. However, the culture of not questioning decisions of seniors in medicine hurts both medical professionals and patients in the long run. In India, the word of a senior physician is gospel for patients as well as for their much junior colleagues.
No one is allowed to question it. We as medical students and residents are taught not question authority in medicine and sometimes punished for it too. As a doctor who is still in the first half of his career, I come across senior doctors putting across their wrong opinions and treatments all too often. Some of them are even…
