This is only true if the cause is pilot error. If the cause is improper maintenance, the responsible party is still alive. In the case of the NTSB, there is a

This is only true if the cause is pilot error. If the cause is improper maintenance, the responsible party is still alive. In the case of the NTSB, there is a strong culture of not penalizing errors unless they were criminal or egregious, which works well in promoting cooperation with the investigation. This would likely be very difficult to achieve with doctors, especially in the US.