UPDATE 12 December 2025
The following comments were sent to the Medical Board of Australia chair Dr Susan O’Dwyer a few weeks ago. In response the Medical Board of Australia has withdrawn its proposal to mandate physical and cognitive tests of older doctors over age 70.
AGISM AND OLDER DOCTORS
As far as wellbeing and health go, what might be suitable for older doctors should also be suitable to all doctors, no matter what age. Risks to health and practice capacity vary by age and gender and other characteristics. Signalling out one group of doctors (for example doctors aged 70 and over) for onerous attention and medical regulator bureaucratic overreach is discrimination. Forcing a member of one group of doctors because of a shared characteristic (for example age or sex or race or colour or religion) to undergo an intervention without there being reasonable suspicion that that doctor has a behaviour of concern is nothing more than age or sex or race or colour or religion profiling. It would be better to encourage all doctors to have their own GP and to have a regular check-up and to follow a healthy lifestyle than discriminate against one or other group of doctors. Medical registration authorities have wide powers to evaluate any doctor who is the subject of a complaint or has been notified to them by colleagues or institutions. This capacity applies to doctors of all ages. These authorities do not need to enter into age profiling or age discrimination in order to identify doctors who are having difficulties. Instead of age profiling, a targeted evaluation approach based on reasonable suspicion and objective indicators, such as repeated complaints or significant lapses in care, can ensure patient safety without resorting to discriminatory practices. It is imperative that ongoing collaboration and cooperation between the medical community and registration authorities continue on these issues.