Who should be able to call themselves Dr.?
My take:
If you didn’t graduate from medical school and pass all of your board exams, stop using Dr. before your name in anything other than a professional setting. People guilty of this: chiropractors, PhDs, dentists, podiatrists, Dr. Phil (PhD), Dr. Ruth (PhD), etc.
But…
I’ll be getting a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) here in a couple years, and while I’m not going to get butthurt if/when someone calls me ‘Mr.’, I’ll be damned if someone tells me I can’t go by ‘Dr.’
In a professional setting, anyway.
Dude, a doctor of dentistry or a PhD can be/is just as tough to achieve as an MD. So IMO, if you earned it, you can use it.
I don’t any of them need to include doctor in their title outside of a professional setting. Dr. Phil doesn’t count because he is a celebrity. He is ONLY known as Dr. Phil.
How often do you meet a surgeon at a party that doesn’t introduce himself with his first name?
When I get my Ph.D I’ll bitchslap anyone who DOESN’T call me doctor.
I think everyone with a phd should be able to call themselves Dr. Cause it was hard work to get there. But what I think the op wants is to find a way of making a medical Dr different from the other Dr’s.
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
I don’t any of them need to include doctor in their title outside of a professional setting. Dr. Phil doesn’t count because he is a celebrity. He is ONLY known as Dr. Phil.
How often do you meet a surgeon at a party that doesn’t introduce himself with his first name? [/quote]
Exactly, I know MDs as Dan, Tim, Paul, etc. Often I knew their first names well before I knew they were docs.
In my book, anyone who can write prescriptions is a doctor.
I think you should be called Master if you have a Master’s degree!
It does seem retarded outside of a professional setting, but the person did earn it. I think if you do call yourself doctor and expect others too, you’re kind of a douche. It’s best you hang around other douche’s…
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Who should be able to call themselves Dr.?
My take:
If you didn’t graduate from medical school and pass all of your board exams, stop using Dr. before your name in anything other than a professional setting. People guilty of this: chiropractors, PhDs, dentists, podiatrists, Dr. Phil (PhD), Dr. Ruth (PhD), etc. [/quote]
LOL!!
Yeah, because Dental school is so easy that ANYONE can do it. Is this thread even serious? I have surgically removed 4 teeth today all requiring sutures and prescriptions for narcotics. How dumb would you have to be to think that does NOT equal being a doctor?
[quote]utHAUS wrote:
I’ll be getting a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) here in a couple years, and while I’m not going to get butthurt if/when someone calls me ‘Mr.’, I’ll be damned if someone tells me I can’t go by ‘Dr.’[/quote]
I’m getting a DPT degree as well and feel the same way. It’s not easy or cheap (time-wise or financially) to get these high level degrees for a reason. If someone wants to put forth the effort I think they earned the right to call themselves doctor. This doesn’t mean I will get pissed or correct people if they call me otherwise. That’s simply immature. A physician/doctor of medicine just has a different specialty than a physical therapist, dentist, professor, etc. I don’t understand the op’s problem.
[quote]adamhum wrote:
I think you should be called Master if you have a Master’s degree!
It does seem retarded outside of a professional setting, but the person did earn it. I think if you do call yourself doctor and expect others too, you’re kind of a douche. It’s best you hang around other douche’s…
:)[/quote]
I apologize for missing the part about being in a professional setting and not one doctor I know introduces themselves in public as “doctor”. It usually quickly comes up in conversation, but unless I am speaking to someone related to my field or talking about a related subject, few people even hear what I do for a living outside of work.
Edit: Lately, most people who know me do call me “doc” outside of work.
[quote]utHAUS wrote:
BONEZ217 wrote:
I don’t any of them need to include doctor in their title outside of a professional setting. Dr. Phil doesn’t count because he is a celebrity. He is ONLY known as Dr. Phil.
How often do you meet a surgeon at a party that doesn’t introduce himself with his first name?
Exactly, I know MDs as Dan, Tim, Paul, etc. Often I knew their first names well before I knew they were docs.[/quote]
x2
The ones who insist on you using Dr. that I have met, have been without an exception, arrogant pricks, regardless of what field they earned the title in. One of my best friends is a PhD and he only uses Dr. at work, because he is a Dean at a college and that is only with students. Even then, he doesn’t stress about it, other than when people who AREN’T doctors let students refer to them by the title and don’t correct them.
Just b/c the AMA has the academic segment of the medical community by the balls doesn’t mean it’s the only standard by which health care professionals should be dubbed dr.
what about dentists that pass the boards for omf? perio? prost? They do surgery…but aren’t doctors?
what about graduates from osteopathic medical schools?
what about doctors who don’t interact with patients?
graduating from an AMA school and jumping through AMA hoops isn’t the only way to earn the doctor title.
PhD’s are a different type of expertise and shouldn’t be lumped in with health care titles.
[quote]dirtbag wrote:
I think everyone with a phd should be able to call themselves Dr. Cause it was hard work to get there. But what I think the op wants is to find a way of making a medical Dr different from the other Dr’s.[/quote]
If that is the case, than good luck to the governing body that tries to standardize that process. I can see how calling a person Dr. can be confusing b/c the first thought is medical. However, I have been around some academic Dr.'s who plainly state their name followed by PhD.
On a personal note, when I finally finish up, I will answer the phone Dr. xxxxxxx until it becomes old and the joy is no longer there.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
Who should be able to call themselves Dr.?
My take:
If you didn’t graduate from medical school and pass all of your board exams, stop using Dr. before your name in anything other than a professional setting. People guilty of this: chiropractors, PhDs, dentists, podiatrists, Dr. Phil (PhD), Dr. Ruth (PhD), etc.
LOL!!
Yeah, because Dental school is so easy that ANYONE can do it. Is this thread even serious? I have surgically removed 4 teeth today all requiring sutures and prescriptions for narcotics. How dumb would you have to be to think that does NOT equal being a doctor?[/quote]
EDIT
Nevermind. Posts are delayed a bit
I have a Ph.D. and don’t insist on being called Doctor. However, in your case, Steel Nation, you must refer to me as Dr. D.
I know some countries (outside the US) are more formal about it and Ph.D.s are referred to as “doctor” even in informal settings. Hey 4-6 years taking advanced classes and performing novel research for a Ph.D. isn’t anything to sneeze at.
Then of course, there is Dr. Who. He goes by Doctor and he’s not a medical doctor…
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
Who should be able to call themselves Dr.?
My take:
If you didn’t graduate from medical school and pass all of your board exams, stop using Dr. before your name in anything other than a professional setting. People guilty of this: chiropractors, PhDs, dentists, podiatrists, Dr. Phil (PhD), Dr. Ruth (PhD), etc.
LOL!!
Yeah, because Dental school is so easy that ANYONE can do it. Is this thread even serious? I have surgically removed 4 teeth today all requiring sutures and prescriptions for narcotics. How dumb would you have to be to think that does NOT equal being a doctor?
If you’re at a friends house or a social event and you introduce yourself do you use your first name or Dr X ?
Using Dr. outside of the office just seems unnecessary to me.[/quote]
You must have posted this before my second post.
Most people either call me “X”, “Doc” or “swoles”. I do not usually introduce myself as “doctor” outside of work and I don’t know any MD’s who do either aside from guys like Dr. Red Duke who are famous and know by their whole name and title everywhere.
Your view is quite ignorant. You should study the etymology of the word and historical usage before announcing how words “should” be used.
Perhaps the problem is that in your mind the word is synonymous with “physician.” It is not.
Here are the first two meanings as given by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
Main Entry: 1doc�?�·tor
Pronunciation: \�??d�?�¤k-t�??r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English doctour teacher, doctor, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin doctor, from Latin, teacher, from doc�??re to teach �¢?? more at docile
Date: 14th century
1 a : an eminent theologian declared a sound expounder of doctrine by the Roman Catholic Church �¢??called also doctor of the church b : a learned or authoritative teacher c : a person who has earned one of the highest academic degrees (as a PhD) conferred by a university d : a person awarded an honorary doctorate (as an LLD or Litt D) by a college or university
2 a : a person skilled or specializing in healing arts; especially : one (as a physician, dentist, or veterinarian) who holds an advanced degree and is licensed to practice