<p>She got a doctorate degree, so why not? But, it’s really confusing. An interesting story.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/health/policy/02docs.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/health/policy/02docs.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general</a></p>
<p>I have a doctorate degree, and I am very happy that at my school we professors are called Professor X rather than Dr. X. At some schools, Dr. X is the convention and I think it is unfortunate. It is not technically wrong but it just sounds wrong. I know a few fellow PhDs who call themselves “doctor” as a matter of course, outside of work, and that just sounds wrong too.</p>
<p>Unless they are a physician, dentist, or veterinarian acting in a professional medical role, I think it’s kind of pathetic when someone with some other kind of doctorate goes around calling themselves or telling others to call them “doctor.”</p>
<p>I have a PhD in a biomedical field (as do many of my colleagues) and I work in medical research. And yes, I worked long and hard to earn that degree, but the last thing I would tell anyone to call me would be “doctor.” It would feel pompous to me, and my colleagues would probably laugh at me. And some people who didn’t know me very well might be confused and think I am a physician.</p>
<p>And I suspect that’s the motivation for at least some of these doctorate nurses. They are hoping that patients will mistake them for a doctor.</p>
<p>I had a professor in college who had a PhD, but we were on a first-name basis in class. If I would talk about her, it was always “Dr. _____” but when I would talk her to it was FirstName. That’s how she preferred things…</p>
<p>Nurses and Physical Therapists both think having a doctorate degree makes them “doctors”</p>
<p>Before we were married, my husband took classes from my dad in college. It took years before DH could call Dad by his first name rather than “Dr. ___”</p>
<p>Actually the term doctor was first belonging to those with the highest degrees…looks like it got usurped a few centuries later by physicians:</p>
<p>From the interwebs: You are correct in that doctor comes ultimately from Latin docere <code>teach.’ It entered English around the turn of the 14th centry as doctour</code>early teacher or father of the Christian Church.’ It was borrowed from Old French, which took it from Medieval Latin doctor <code>religious teacher, scholar,’ from Latin doctor</code>teacher.’ This comes from docere <code>to show, teach;’ interestingly, docere originally meant</code>to make [something] appear right.’ It came from decere <code>to be seemly, fitting.’ The sense of someone who has received the highest degree from a university arose sometime prior to the late 14th century. The same is true for the meaning</code>doctor of medicine,’ although this sense did not enter wide use until the 16th century.</p>
<p>If you’re not willing to run to the scene of illness/injury when you hear, “Help! Get a doctor!” you probably shouldn’t call yourself “doctor.”
Not that PhDs haven’t earned their degrees–just wish we had a different title for that. (Professor is good, if you’re in academics. . .)
An MD I know prefers to be called “Doctor Lastname” or “Firstname.” But he hates being called “Mister.”
A PhD I knew never wanted to be called “doctor”–he was afraid he’d be asked for medical help/advice.</p>
<p>I’m fine with a PhD being called ‘doctor’, along with MDs. I have met many MDs who would also prefer that you not call them Dr., unless it is a doctor-patient relationship. It is refreshing to see people now and then not get hung up with their degree and how you address them.</p>
<p>I have a juris doctor degree so I could technically be called doctor. I have never done it because it just doesn’t sit right and, besides, what if they asked for a doctor in an emergency on a plane or in a restaurant?</p>
<p>When my husband was first licensed as an attorney, he went to the lumberyard where he used to work. The old country German men there called him “Herr Doktor” and refused to let him work because it was beneath a “doctor” to cut wood for mere mortals!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I do this quite often. That doesn’t mean I can call myself “doctor.”</p>
<p>I agree that it is confusing that MD’s and PhD’s both are called “doctor.” I wish there were different terminology for one or the other.</p>
<p>However, I think someone who has completed a PhD has earned the respect of a title. I am a bit put off by the comments here which make it sound like the use of the honorific makes a PhD some kind of imposter or a physician wannabe. Physicians aren’t gods that everyone else must bow down before as second-class citizens.</p>
<p>And no, I don’t have a PhD. Or an MD.</p>
<p>I’ve got an “Esq.” after my name. It allows me to “dispute”, and to wear a silver dress sword on my left side.</p>
<p>I have a Ph.D. and my correct title is Dr. When asked on a form for a title, that is what I put. I would never demand that anyone call me Dr., but on a university campus, many people refer to other Ph.D. holders as Dr. because that is their title. Professor is fine, too. However, since I now work in an administrative role and do not teach, that does not really fit me. Frankly, I rarely use a title, but when I do, that’s what I choose. </p>
<p>I agree with Skyhook.</p>
<p>A PhD is just as entitled to be called “Dr.” as an MD is. I don’t get the idea that MDs have first claim to the title.</p>
<p>To me, the original article is not about who gets to be called doctor, its about who has ultimate responsibility when the you know what hits the fan. It’s nice to seem in charge when things are going well. Drives me nuts when same folks don’t have to handle the crisis sometimes created.</p>
<p>I admit I didn’t read the article before jumping in. And yes, I agree with Shrinkrap that the use of the term is not really the main thrust of the article, which is about the perennial turf wars between doctors and nurses (and other health professionals). </p>
<p>One of the contentions made by some of those apparently interviewed for the article is that PhD nurses are trying to pass themselves off as physicians. I have no comment on that, but it made me think of another hospital issue.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take a PhD for me to get confused by the parade of people who walk into a patient’s room in a set of scrubs. I can actually remember when you could tell a physician from a nurse from an aide from a janitor by the way they dressed. No more. And, there are several “levels” of physicians, which I get confused. Is the “attending” higher than the “resident”? I can never remember. Ay yi yi.</p>
<p>When I went to graduate school in Canada 30 years ago, only the few professors who did not have a PhD (mostly older generation) were called Professor. All other professors who did have a PhD were called Dr. </p>
<p>So basically, they didn’t like being called professor if they had a PhD.</p>
<p>The “doctor” title was bestowed upon the Ph.Ds way before it was given to the MDs. <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_(title[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_(title)</a> In my profession, the doctor title is used in the office and when I want good dinner reservations :)</p>
<p>What makes this even more confusing is that DPT or DN degrees, that is Doctor of Physical Therapy and Doctor of Nursing are NOT PhD degrees. In my humble opinion, there is a bit more to getting a PhD than a D. There is a difference.</p>
<p>And in healthcare, it is downright confusing. In certain settings, calling a nurse a doctor can be misleading to some degree. I do not begrudge a Doctor of Nursing his/her degree. But it is not a PhD nor MD, and less educated patients will be confused, and in some cases mislead.</p>
<p>Only scanned the article, but I do have a contribution to the Dr./Professor debate. For one my classes, I have a professor (I’ll call him that) who had a PhD. However, he is only an adjunct and does not have the official title of professor at either school he teaches at, so he prefers to be called Dr. or by his first name because he technically isn’t a professor.</p>