Bangladesh, Nov. 19 -- The integrity of any health care system depends largely on public trust. Patients must believe that the doctors treating them are not only professionally competent but also ethically sound and trustworthy. Yet recent revelations from an international investigative project have exposed a troubling loophole in Finnish medical regulation – one that has allowed violent criminals, sexual offenders, and doctors banned across Europe to retain their licenses and continue practicing medicine in Finland.

An investigation by Yle, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the UKs The Times, and Norways VG, found that more than 20 doctors who have been banned, sanctioned, or convict...