The Dr. Death case didn’t just expose one surgeon. It showed how medicine has changed and not always for the better.

In Episode 10 of AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable, Dr. Robert Henderson and Dr. Martin Lazar return to continue the conversation about what’s happened to medicine over their careers and why patient safety is still at risk.

They explain how neurosurgical training and certification have improved since Dr. Death and why Christopher Duntsch would never qualify today. But they’re clear: this is only one step, not a solution.

This episode covers:

• Why board eligibility should be required to practice in hospitals

• Whether current reforms can truly prevent another Dr. Death

• The fading but dangerous legacy of medicine’s “code of silence”

• How corporate employment changed referrals and accountability

• Why most physicians are now employees, not independent doctors

• How private equity and profit pressure threaten patient safety

• The rise of the “physicianpreneur” and why patients can’t easily tell who to trust

In a fast lightning round, they also share what they miss about the old days of medicine, what technology has improved, how they view AI, and why physician integrity matters more than ever.

If you want to understand where healthcare is headed and what that means for patients—this conversation is one you shouldn’t miss.

Listen to Episode 10:

https://www.vanweylaw.com/advokayte-podcasts/

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The Dr. Death case should have changed everything. It didn’t.

In Episode 9 of AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable, I’m joined by two veteran neurosurgeons and patient safety advocates, Dr. Robert Henderson and Dr. Martin Lazar, to talk honestly about why the same system failures that enabled Christopher Duntsch still exist today.

As members of the No More Dr. Deaths group, Dr. Henderson and Dr. Lazar explain how hospitals continue to protect dangerous doctors, often out of fear, finances, or convenience. They share what really happens when a physician causes harm and why reporting to the National Practitioner Data Bank is still routinely avoided.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why over half of U.S. hospitals have never reported a doctor

• How fear of lawsuits keeps dangerous physicians hidden

• Why hospitals let doctors “voluntarily resign” instead of reporting them

• How profit-driven systems put patients at risk

• Why no hospital has ever been punished for violating NPDB laws

• What has changed in residency training since Dr. Death, and what hasn’t

• Whether the medical “code of silence” is finally breaking

When asked to grade the system, Dr. Lazar gives it a simple answer: poorly.

If you want to understand why Dr. Death wasn’t a one-off and what must change to stop the next one, this conversation matters.

Listen to Episode 9:

https://www.vanweylaw.com/advokayte-podcasts/

Like, subscribe, and share to help put patient safety first.

The Dr. Death case didn’t just expose one surgeon. It exposed a broken system.

In this episode of AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable, the speaker sits down with Lisa McGiffert, longtime patient safety advocate and former Consumer Reports leader, to explain what the Dr. Death case revealed about medical boards, transparency, and accountability in healthcare.

Lisa spent 27 years at Consumer Reports working on healthcare oversight and later led a national campaign requiring hospitals to publicly report infection rates. She now leads the Patient Safety Action Network (PSAN), helping patients and families turn harm into action.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Dr. Death exposed failures in medical board oversight

• Why disciplined doctors appeared “clean” in Texas

• How new laws now require continuous monitoring of the National Practitioner Data Bank

• Why secrecy still protects doctors over patients

• What patients can do to demand accountability

If you followed the Dr. Death story and want to understand how the system failed and how to prevent it from happening again—this episode is essential.

Learn more about PSAN: https://www.patientsafetyaction.org

More AdvoKAYte episodes: https://www.vanweylaw.com/advokayte-podcasts/

Like, subscribe, and share to support patient safety.