The Perils of Foreign, Especially Muslim, Doctors in Europe

One commenter summed it up succinctly: “I have no interest whatsoever in going to a health care provider who adheres to a warped religious creed that maintains that because I am not a believer I am “the vilest of creatures” (Sur 98:6) and that I am also “worse than cattle” (Sura 7:179).

The Perils of Foreign, Especially Muslim, Doctors in Europe

By Hugh Fitzgerald, May 20, 2026:

In Germany, there is a shortage of doctors, and an influx of foreign doctors has not solved that problem but instead, has led to poorly trained doctors harming, and in some cases, killing, their patients. Especially worrisome have been doctors from Muslim lands. More on this burgeoning problem can be found in this January 2025 article that unfortunately remains relevant: “‘Some of the foreign doctors are a significant safety risk’ – Senior German doctor warns against doctors from Muslim countries,” Remix News, January 21, 2025:

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Foreign doctors are not a solution to the soaring healthcare shortage seen in Germany, and in many cases, these foreign doctors actually represent a threat to patients, according to a senior doctor in Lower Saxony who conducted an in-depth interview with Cicero magazine about her experience

There are increasing calls to bring in more foreign doctors to Germany, but the doctor interviewed, who works as a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology in a hospital in Lower Saxony, warns there are serious differences in medical training between countries. She only spoke to Cicero under the condition her name would not be disclosed out of fear of reprisals.

“As a senior physician, I also look after foreign assistant doctors who have a professional license. Out of ten foreign doctors, there is only one that I would let loose on patients. It’s not just about language barriers, but about glaring differences in medical training. Look: A lung cancer patient and a patient with a heart attack receive the same guideline-compliant treatment regardless of their health insurance status. My experience: The majority of foreign colleagues are not even aware of these standards,” she said….

“I also have to report more extreme examples: In connection with an Arab colleague, the public prosecutor’s office has already ordered an autopsy. The colleague put a gastric tube in the lung and a central venous catheter in the artery in the neck. The patient died. I certainly don’t know for sure what caused the patient’s death, but you understand, some of these doctors pose a significant safety risk. This is not only a risk for the patients, but also pushes us senior doctors beyond the limits of our workload,” she said….

In this regard, she provided another example, stating: “With a young patient in his mid-20s, things were on edge. He was in a life-threatening condition. At the beginning of January, a young Arab doctor was on duty and was responsible for him, but he was not able to insert intravenous needles. It was the Arab doctor, I told you about. So I asked the nurses to look after the young patient themselves, not the doctor. As a senior physician, I expressly forbade this colleague from touching this patient. I could not have imagined something like this a few years ago.”…

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“I have to say: The more Muslim the colleagues have been through their socialization, the more difficult it is to deal with them in everyday hospital life,” she said. “Many Muslim colleagues have great difficulty accepting criticism. Since they have a very strong sense of honor, they immediately feel attacked. When I wanted to explain objectively to a doctor colleague how to issue a death certificate, he shouted at me and accused me of racism. He also said that he did not want to deal with such simple tasks. How can I work profitably with a colleague if he cannot handle criticism and feels his honor is insulted? Constantly learning new things is essential in our profession.”

She also noted that many Muslim doctors harbor “gender stereotypes.”

“It is horrible how disrespectfully they sometimes treat nurses,” she said. “Even I, an experienced senior physician, am sometimes treated with an arrogance and superiority that I have never experienced before in my experience in hospitals. We have young female assistant doctors on the team who tell me quite openly to my face that they do not want to work with Arab colleagues on the weekend. They feel harassed and are afraid. As a woman, I have to say: I can understand my young colleagues very well.”…

“There is always discussion about whether we should gradually repeal the current rules in Germany and recognize more foreign specialist training. The faster recognition of specialists is just one example of many discussions that aim to admit foreign doctors to our hospitals more quickly and without complex checks. I can only strongly warn against this because, in my experience, a Syrian or Afghan doctor is very far from German standards. In view of the increasingly ideological debates about the shortage of skilled workers in recent years, I am very afraid of this possible development,” said the doctor….

Those Germans who support Muslim immigration often point to the usefulness of admitting doctors from Muslim lands, for no one doubts that Germany does not have enough medical personnel. But there have been enough cases of Muslim doctors making colossal mistakes in diagnoses and treatments, including those resulting in patient deaths, that suggest that reliance on Muslim doctors is an error. As the German cardiologist notes, “the more Muslim the colleagues have been through their socialization, the more difficult it is to deal with them in everyday hospital life. Many Muslim colleagues have great difficulty accepting criticism,” and accuse German doctors who take issue with their work of “racism.” Meanwhile, these poorly-trained foreign doctors, who refuse to listen to critics, who mistreat the nursing staff because of their contempt for women, who accept no criticism, are now a mortal threat to the safety of the patients they treat.