The professional pledge of the modern-day physician is to serve humanity, respect human life and advance healthcare.

The AMA Code of Ethics also explicitly states that while doctors have a primary duty to individual patients, their responsibility extends to “other patients and the wider community”.

However, when a doctor takes steps to address potential public harm — for example, by publicly calling out what they believe is false or misleading medical information — does the doctor have any protections to fall back on?

The recent case of Dr Adam Smith — who was sued by a US naturopath for publicly questioning her alternative treatments for cancer and other patients — is a cautionary and costly tale about the potential perils of publicly challenging health-related misinformation.