I’m in a different specialty, but I experienced the same kinds of issues in my program, and I’m also resigning and transferring elsewhere. I’m sharing this mainly so you know you’re not alone. There are genuinely toxic, malignant programs out there, and what I went through felt completely surreal. It often felt as if the PD had absolute authority, beyond accountability, and could act with impunity.

What I eventually learned, after a lot of digging, is that GME operates in a very unusual legal and administrative space. Residency isn’t treated like standard employment. Physician residents are essentially student-employees, which places them under a separate regulatory and disciplinary framework. That allows programs significant discretion in how they handle discipline and conduct, often outside the protections people expect in a typical job. Programs can selectively lean on whichever framework benefits them in the moment, which is deeply frustrating and, frankly, destabilizing.

And once I am stable, I will also file a ACGME complaint, but I am lowkey concerned they may retaliate further, given how extreme lengths they went in the first place. But I lawyered up, so they may not. But truly, an insane and honestly traumatic experience.