If someone has the title doctor?

Question

why do people assume he/she is a medical practitioner, when it is unusual for a physician to hold a doctoral degree?

Answer 1

particularly annoying are the so-called higher degrees...so that all primates in the C of E get a DD highest degree there is, but it is un-earned.......Dr.Carey..really annoyed me on that score....I have to confess to having got one of these myself..BUT I don't use it as a title...despite the user name on here.....PhD's i think should be used...what happens when you have both/ /now i'm getting confused.........call me doctor john!


of course as usual the americans bugger it up for everyone else and maintain that MD is a doctoral degree!!! only in america could that happen.......but then they have the best /largest etc etc......I call all medico's mr & real doctor...doctor......of course in France teachers are professors!

Answer 2

An MD, DO, or DPM are all doctorate level degrees. People don't always assume someone with the title is a doctor, it depends on the setting. out in the general public, people with the degree generally don't go introducing themselves as Dr. Smith to everyone, but if they do the reply is often "MD or PhD?" If you were at a university you'd expect those with the Dr. title to have a PhD, where in a hospital it was be a medical degree.
Now if someone was to ask you what you do for a career, saying "I am a doctor" is synonymous with "I am a physician" although this does offend some PhDs and Dentists etc. On the other hand, most people with other doctorate level degrees will say "I am a scientist/ psychologist/ dentist/ chiropractor/ professor/etc."

Answer 3

A medical doctor actually has the letters MD after the name and the term Doctor is a title to recognise the work that he carries out. A PhD holder can also call himself Doctor but his doctorate can be in a wide range of subjects from Chemistry to Engineering to zoology.

Answer 4

A physician indeed holds a doctoral degree, in medicine. Here in the US it is common to address physicians and surgeons as doctor. Those who hold PhD's are addressed as Mr., Mrs. Ms except in their academic surroundings. It strikes me as a bit unfair, since the term doctor is derived from the Latin, docere, to teach.

In Great Britain, surgeons are addressed as Mister. In written German, doctors are differentiated as Dr. med Schultz, Dr. phil. Kramer, etc.

Answer 5

I think it's just due to a large portion of society only meeting someone with the title "Dr." when they are in the presence of a medical practitioner. It becomes the "normal" state of things.

Answer 6

In the US/Canadian system, physicians all have a doctorate, and PhD's conventionally don't normally use the title in social situations, so it's a perfectly understandable mistake. Less so in the British system, but then American social norms are heavily exported.

Answer 7

It isn't rare for an MD to also hold a Phd

Answer 8

am i a doctor