Comment by bjornsing
The thing is, I care a lot when I make a mistake. To me some kind of “punishment” wouldn’t make a dent. I already imagine I do get “punished” for my mistakes, in the form of reputation and missed opportunities down the line (even if that may not be strictly true).
But if you don’t care and you expect zero consequences, then yes: “punishment” would make a dent.
And to be clear, the kind of “punishment” I think is needed is e.g. that a regulatory authority keeps a score of severe misdiagnosis that is publicly accessible. Every doctor would probably have a few in their career, nothing to worry about. But if you routinely misdiagnose patients then it’s going to add up over the years.
A publicly accessible score would mean that being a doctor means giving up privacy.
I'm not sure how it works in other countries but here there is a medical board that will hear cases and you can lose your license. I would guess a similar system exists in most places in Europe. Being brought before the board is basically like fighting a court case. I don't imagine most professions have this hanging over them combined with the amount of opportunities to get into such a situation.