Who decides when doctors should retire?
Health Who decides when doctors should retire? Liz Mineo Harvard Staff Writer June 30, 2025 4 min read Expert in law, bioethics sees need for cognitive testing amid graying of nation’s physician workforce As the national physician workforce gets older, concerns about cognitive decline among doctors are increasing, highlighting the need for testing late-career practitioners, said Sharona Hoffman, a specialist in law and bioethics, at a recent Harvard Law School panel. Hoffman, who teaches at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, spoke at a conference on law, healthcare, and aging sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center. The event covered topics that included challenges to healthcare systems in adapting to patients with increased longevity, older adults and issues of discrimination, protection, and paternalism, and technology and commercialization in aging. “Cognitive decline in the physician workforce is a problem, and it’s a problem that has come to the attention of healthcare organizations,” said Hoffman. Yale New Haven Hospital tested 141 clinicians who...