“Architects’ mistakes should be covered with ivy and doctors’ with sod”: Medical malpractice, Morton Shulman, and the “conspiracy of silence”

Abstract

Every year thousands of Canadians are killed or injured because of medical mistakes. Plaintiffs, however, face several challenges to suing doctors successfully for malpractice. One challenge is the reluctance of some doctors to criticize other medical professionals, sometimes referred to as the “conspiracy of silence.” This article focuses on the attention given to the conspiracy of silence in Ontario in the 1960s when Dr. Morton Shulman, the pugnacious and flamboyant Chief Coroner of Toronto, alleged that doctors routinely covered up medical errors. Shulman drew media attention to irresponsible doctors, poor practice, and negligent treatment. He demanded more accountability and better care, and deplored efforts to silence him to protect the reputation of doctors. A decline in public trust of experts and of the professions created conditions that lent credence to Shulman’s claims. However, many medical professionals chafed at the questioning of their professionalism, expertise, and ethics. The provincial government’s responses, which included coroner system reforms, expanding the powers of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, and attempting to silence Shulman, primarily aimed to meet the concerns of the state and medical professionals, rather than those of patients and the public.