Docs slam toxic OR culture after a surgeon's shocking outburst goes viral
Key Takeaways
Industry Buzz
“This kind of behavior is not just unprofessional—it’s dangerous.” — Betsy Grunch, MD, neurosurgeon
"It's hard to explain to people outside of medicine what being in the OR is like, and how surgeons can be. I'm frankly happy this is getting caught on video because surgeons have been throwing tantrums like this for decades with impunity." — Frances Mei Hardin, MD, ex-ENT surgeon
If you’ve spent any time in the OR, you know how high the stakes are. One misstep, one miscommunication, one distracted team member—and the entire case can veer off course. But what if the disruption isn’t clinical at all? What if it’s a toxic power dynamic?
A recent livestream is going viral on social media, with physicians and healthcare workers sharing reactions to shine light on a persistent—and often overlooked—issue in surgical culture: verbal abuse and disrespect toward nurses and OR staff.
In an Instagram post, neurosurgeon Betsy Grunch, MD, comments on the upsetting footage: “Recently, I witnessed a moment that made my heart drop—a surgeon belittled a nurse in front of the entire team and called her ‘stupid’ for a simple error,” Dr. Grunch wronte in the caption. “This kind of behavior is not just unprofessional—it’s dangerous.”
When incivility becomes a patient safety issue
It's not an overstatement—this sort of behavior is dangerous. A study published in Pediatrics found that exposure to rude behavior in clinical simulations significantly impaired both diagnostic accuracy and procedural performance. []
Another study, from Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches, found that disruptive behavior and communication breakdowns contributed to over 70% of sentinel events. []
It’s not hard to draw the connection: Toxic interactions in the OR don’t just hurt feelings—they hurt outcomes.
Nurses aren’t “assistants.” They’re clinical experts.
The post challenges the outdated idea that nurses and techs are simply there to follow orders.
In reality, they are often the first to catch subtle changes in a patient’s status, anticipate needs, and provide essential clinical insight. When that expertise is dismissed—or worse, mocked—everyone loses.
Lindsey Shelton, a nurse turned content creator, also shared her thoughts on the footage in an Instagram post: "[This doctor] is the worst of the worst & this unfortunately is how neurosurgeons get a bad reputation," she wrote in the caption.
Psychological safety is non-negotiable
In recent years, the concept of psychological safety has become a hot topic—and it's especially important in the OR. With such high stakes, the OR is no place for punitive or humiliating behavior.
As ex-ENT surgeon Frances Mei Hardin, MD, says in her own Instagram Reel about the event, "it's hard to explain to people outside of medicine what being in the OR is like, and how surgeons can be. I'm frankly happy this is getting caught on video because surgeons have been throwing tantrums like this for decades with impunity."
If team members are afraid to speak up, minor errors become major ones. As Dr. Grunch puts it:
“When we talk about saving lives, we are not doing it alone. It takes a united team, and psychological safety—the belief that you can speak up without being punished or humiliated—is a non-negotiable part of that.”