Badge of Infamy

A young doctor, expelled from the medical profession and branded a pariah, discovers that the line between moral righteousness and institutional corruption is far thinner than he ever imagined. When a mysterious illness begins striking down the elite who destroyed his career, he faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to an oath that was weaponized against him, or answer the call of a justice no court will ever recognize. Lester Del Rey crafts a taut, propulsive narrative that functions as both a gripping medical mystery and a sharp indictment of how institutions protect their own at any cost. The protagonist's descent from respected physician to social outcast is rendered with psychological precision, and the slow revelation of what really happened to end his career keeps the reader racing toward a conclusion that poses uncomfortable questions about guilt, innocence, and who gets to decide. This is science fiction wearing the disguise of a courtroom drama, and it remains devastatingly relevant.