Four Corners: May 25

On Monday’s Four Corners, reporter Quentin McDermott hears from trainee doctors who speak out on a culture of bullying in hospitals.

We put our lives in the hands of surgeons, trusting in their professionalism and skill. But what happens in the supercharged atmosphere of an operating theatre or hospital ward can be shocking.

A toxic culture of belittling, bullying and bastardisation is poisoning the lives of young trainee doctors in some of our major teaching hospitals.

In first-hand accounts, young doctors outline an entrenched cycle of abuse where teaching by humiliation is routine.

They talk of verbal abuse and threats and the unwritten rule of medicine: never speak out for fear of reprisal.

And they talk of the terrible toll it takes on their mental health.

And it’s not just the doctors themselves that are at risk, with medical groups conceding that this behaviour is dangerous for patients too.

Monday 25th May at 8.30pm on ABC.