When the Nurse Wants to Be Called ‘Doctor’

[xiggi]

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At the ETA in Switzerland, the PhDs there are all called “Herr Doktor Professor X” by everyone and you had better say it all!

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<p>Even if the “Doktor Professor” wears earrings, make-up, and a healthy amount of Chanel 5? Could be awkward! </p>

<p>And, fwiw, Europeans might not be that forgiving when it comes to titles and PhD wanting to be called Doctor! </p>

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AT LEAST SEVEN U.S.-educated scientists working at the Max Planck Society’s (MPS) prestigious research institutes in Germany have faced or are facing criminal charges for impersonating a “Dr.” The maximum penalty for this crime is one year in jail.</p>

<p>According to documents examined by C&EN, the charges were issued by German officials because the scientists put the title “Dr.” in front of their names on public documents, such as work-related websites.</p>

<p>“The whole situation is absurd,” says Jonathan Gershenzon, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena. Gershenzon received his doctorate at the University of Texas, Austin. He was charged with impersonating a “Dr.” by German officials in January.</p>

<p>According to German criminal law, the title “Dr.” is reserved only for individuals who received a doctoral degree from a European Union institution, explains Erik Kraatz, a criminal lawyer at the Free University, Berlin. Kraatz notes that the law also prohibits masquerading as a police officer, medical doctor, or professor.
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"I am not allowed to be publicly listed as ‘Dr. Baldwin,’ " says Ian T. Baldwin, another director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, who was also charged in January. "To obey the law, I must refer to myself as ‘Ian Baldwin, Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca (N.Y.).’ "**</p>

<p>The maximum penalty for misusing the “Dr.” title in Germany is one year in jail.Indeed, to legally use the title “Dr.” in Germany, foreign-trained scientists must request permission from their local German state government. With this state-level consent, they can use the title “Dr.” anywhere in the country. But without the state’s permission to use the title, a scientist breaks two laws: the state law requiring approval to use the “Dr.” title and the federal impersonation law, Kraatz says.</p>

<p>Breaking the state law is punishable with a fine akin to that associated with a traffic ticket. However, breaking the federal law is punishable by a larger fine or up to one year in jail, Kraatz adds.</p>

<p>“This law caught everyone by surprise,” says Bernard F. Schutz, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Potsdam, and a** doctoral graduate of California Institute of Technology. He was charged with misuse of the “Dr.” title in November 2007.**

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<p>Source: [Chemical</a> & Engineering News: Latest News - Mistaken Masquerade](<a href=“http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i10/8610notw1.html]Chemical”>http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i10/8610notw1.html)</p>

<p>PS On a more serious note, there is an update to the story:
<a href=“http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i11/8611notw7.html[/url]”>http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i11/8611notw7.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Since publication of the incidents involving the Max Planck directors, however, a conference of German state education ministers has agreed that people with doctoral degrees from U.S. institutions can legally use the “Dr.” title in Germany. The only stipulation is that their Ph.D.-granting institution must be recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, an independent California-based policy and research center devoted to the cause of higher education.

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