A shocking investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Norway’s VG, and The Times of London has revealed a disturbing loophole in Europe’s healthcare regulatory systems: doctors stripped of their medical licenses in one country continue practicing freely in another. The findings, part of a months-long probe titled “Bad Practice,” have triggered alarm among top health officials and prompted calls for urgent reforms across the continent.

The investigation uncovered more than 100 doctors whose medical licenses had been revoked in at least one jurisdiction – often due to serious offenses such as sexual assault, malpractice, or fraud – yet who still hold active licenses elsewhere in Europe or beyond. The revelations have exposed a deep structural failure in the European Union’s alert and verification systems, sparking a wave of official inquiries and political reactions.

“This is serious. People should be able to be completely confident in those who provide healthcare in Norway,” declared Jan Christian Vestre, Norway’s Minister of Health and Care Services, on October 2. His words echoed a sentiment now reverberating across Europe: patients are being placed at risk due to systemic regulatory negligence.

The investigation has already prompted Norway to reopen inquiries into 12 doctors whose cases had previously been shelved due to administrative “errors.” One particularly disturbing case involves a pediatrician who allegedly told parents their children might have cancer – solely to persuade them to purchase expensive diagnostic tests from his private company.

For many, such revelations are not only an indictment of individual misconduct but a reflection of the wider flaws in Europe’s fragmented oversight system. The current system relies on an EU and European Economic Area (EEA) “alert mechanism” that is supposed to........

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