Most people view licensure positively.
After all, we are told that it is only through licensing that we can be assured that consumers will receive high quality health care. However, this does not necessarily follow. It is well known that many people fall victim every year to iatrogenic, that is, physician-caused illness. While this is sometimes a result of negligence, it may simply be due to factors that no physician, no matter how careful and highly skilled, could predict. Physicians have been licensed by their state governments, yet still there are patients who are harmed.