We have heard all about accountable doctors. Here’s why patients must be held accountable.

“I saved you a voicemail,” my friend says over a hastily arranged lunch. After ordering, I hit play and listen not once but three times. The message is like a poorly microwaved meal: warm on the surface, stone cold inside.

The caller is the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the authority that ensures the public can maintain trust in the medical profession.

In the message, a man politely conveys that a complaint against my friend is on the way. Acknowledging that this can be stressful news, he urges her to avoid stress although he doesn’t suggest how she might do so amid the mystery surrounding the notification.

She spends the night terrified. Unhappy and malcontent patients from 25 years of practice race through her mind. In the habit of apologising and fixing things, did she offend someone so grievously that it triggered a complaint?

The next morning, after a distracted drive, she sees patients she could not bear to cancel. When her inbox pings, she waits until the last patient has left. The email states that she is under review and gives her two weeks to respond. Adding insult to injury, she must list all her workplaces, so the public is shielded while she is investigated.

The complaint is surprisingly superficial. A patient has accused her of missing a diagnosis of chronic pain, correctly diagnosed 10 years later, and questions how she could have........

© The Guardian