Yes, sorry I had to edit the title because it was too long, resulting in this confusion.
The authors are all staff at a teaching hospital, but do not hold teaching/academic positions and are not affiliated to the local university. Our boss is tenured, but is not an author and apparently doesn't care very much about this story.
The title suggest that you're academics but then you say that you aren't:
> how can academics protect themselves?
> do not hold academic/teaching positions.
Which one is it?