Seizure, and doctor's initial effort to stop it (9)
I believe the answer is:
distraint
'seizure' is the definition.
(distraint is a kind of seizure)
'doctor's initial effort to stop it' is the wordplay.
'initial' indicates taking the first letters.
'effort' becomes 'strain' (strain is a kind of effort**).
'to stop' is an insertion indicator.
The first letter of 'doctors' is 'd'.
'strain' going into 'it' is 'istraint'.
'd'+'istraint'='DISTRAINT'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for distraint that I've seen before include "legal action against debtor" , "seizing property legally" , "seizing goods" , "seizure of property" , "seizure of goods" .)