Doctors Are Not Murderers

The title of this book is deliberately provocative. We chose it to make a clear statement and reclaim the narrative from the extremes, directly rebutting the shocking slogans that mobs have chanted and the vile comments that internet trolls have spewed. When a doctor is beaten after a patient dies, someone in the crowd inevitably shouts ‘Murdered!’ When a sensational news story breaks about a rare surgical complication, online comments declare the surgeon a murderer. Such characterizations are not only grossly unfair but also deeply damaging.

We take an oath to do no harm. Does every outcome always align with that oath? Tragically, no. Biology can defeat the best of us, errors (or, as we call them, complications) can happen despite our due diligence, and yes, doctors are human and humans are fallible. But the intention with which 99.9% of physicians approach their work is to heal, not to hurt.

“Doctors Are Not Murderers” is built on real-life doctor–patient stories from emergency rooms, cancer wards, burn units, and rural clinics that reveal the untold side of medicine. These stories show doctors not as heroes or villains but as human beings striving to do their best, often under extraordinary pressure. Some tales will make you laugh at the quirks of our profession, others will make you cry, and we hope all of them will make you think deeply. We are sure they will restore some of the faith and understanding that seems to have been lost in the din of recent years.

Because doctors are being called murderers in lawsuits, media, and social discourse, this title holds a mirror to that accusation and flips it. It declares what every medical student learns on day one: do no harm.

The vast majority of doctors do not wake up wondering how to profit from pain. They wake up wondering how to relieve it. This book is a reminder of that oath and a plea to the public to remember that fundamental truth. In its pages, we delve deep into the challenges that have brought us to this precipice of distrust. Importantly, “Doctors Are Not Murderers” does more than just analyze problems; it offers a beacon of hope in the form of potential pathways to rebuilding trust.