Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

my partner has the title Dr from doing his phd. Lots of people tell him their symptoms and ailments thinking he is a medical doctor/GP!
😮

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

Doctor is a very general term as everyone has pointed out. Anyone with a PhD can use it, and it's their right to do so.

However, people using the title, should have letters post-fixing their name to indicate the type of doctorate they have undertaken.

e.g.
DrFred BloggsMD is clearly a medical doctor
whereas
Dr Fred Bloggs D.Chir. indicates a different doctorate

(I don't know the actual letters that should be used, that's just an example)

People do mistake those who use the title of Dr. for being a medical doctor, but that's the persons mistake for making such an assumption, not that of the Dr. IMHO.

Love and Reiki Hugs

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

Chiropractors are trained and legally obliged in the UK to take a case history and diagnose before commencing any treatment. If it is suspected that a patient has cancer, diabetic neuropathy, gyny or mental health problems AND NO MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS, WE REFER THEM BACK TO THEIR GP . I state quite clearly that chiropractors are required to diffentially diagnose and exclude serious pathology and disease as possible causes of musculoskeletal pain or disfunction. We are trained to a high standard to do so and can be called to account if we misdiagnose. If any of you go to see someone calling themselves a chiropractor who does not do all of these things, you should report them to the General Chiropractic Council immediately as they might be placing your life and the lives of others at serious risk.

If the patient chooses NOT to go to their GP, that is theirchoice - I can only advise them to do so. If the problem is not musculoskeletal, I refuse to treat them.

I suggest that annonymouse obtains some more information about the training and regulation of chiropractors before jumping down my throat. Chiropractors in the UK now attend 6000 hrs over 5 years including clinical experience with real live patients in pain and distress. The training includes oncology, pathology, rheumatology, clinicalmedicine, endocrinology, neurology, pharmacology, radiology, clinical examination and orthopaedics. They then have a post registration training year during which they are mentored by a more experienced practitioner. So that's six years in total.

Are you a GP or consultant, Annonymous? Time to tell us where you get your ideas that Chiropractors are dangerous and not entitled to practice differential diagnosis and therefore not entitled tobe known as Dr. If a chiropractor has in the past abused your trust and misdiagnosed - then I am sorry for your pain and suffering. Please let the authorities know so that something can be done to make British Chiropractic reknowned for being honest, competant and successful.

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

Chiropractors use the post nominal DC.

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

Hi All

I have aPHD and am very proud to use the title when appropriate.

I do nothave a problem with fully trained Chiropractors using the title Dr with post-nominal DC.

What I believe is that if any registered chiropractor was asked to diagnose and treat outside of their remit then they would refer that client/patient to their GP.

If someone came up to me and said you are a doctor andI have a problem, I would reply along the lines of "I'm sorry but I am not a Medical Doctor but I can put you in touch with a man who is"

Lets put this into perspective. Within the field of complementary and alternative medicine there are many Doctors appearing that have a quickie American doctorate and some I might add who have an even quicker internet one.

These Professionals have studied for up to five years and taken rigorous exams. Lets respect that and accept that may people owe their future lives to Dr +++++ DC

Ps I am Not A Chiropractor.

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

When I was awarded my doctorate it was explained to me that correct usage was either, "Dr XXXX" or "XXXX, PhD" but not, "Dr XXXX, PhD". It would be tautological.

This convention does not seem to apply to medical or chiropractics who can happily use both pre nominal and post nominal designations at the same time.

I always use Dr if I use a title at all. It annoys me that if you comment on anything to do with, health, life values, medicine, morals, the NHS, etc. that you are expected to explain that you are not medical.

The title should indicate that you have advanced the body of knowledge by independent effort (PhD) or that you have reached an academic standard or admission (registration) to a learned body in one of a number of professions – medicine, the law, religion…chiropractic?

Medical practitioners themselves deceive patients – junior hospital doctors (interns) are given the title Dr even though they are not yet qualified.

A medical “doctor’s academic qualification is BMed, BSurg, i.e. two bachelor level degrees. In some countries (e.g. Germany) medical practioners do not use the title “dr” unless they hold a doctorate degree. In UK some are awarded MD if they do extra study and research. Due to ancient snobbery in the UK, surgeons drop the title “Dr” when admitted to the consultant level of their professional body. They then become “Mr” (tricky for female surgeons!)

Physicians’ and surgeons’ titles were originally given by courtesy to lend some level of respect. “Dr” indicated a learned standard for the general public to respect. “Mr” indicated that even though surgeons did not have the standing of a commissioned military/naval officer, he did stand above the general run of “men”. Surgeons like (non-commissioned) warrant offices, were given the title “Mr” in order to set them above general NCOs and “men”. This, it should be remembered, coincided with, and followed on, from a time when surgeons had been barbers (red and white twisted pole outside their premises indicating blood and bandages).

Ironically, medical practitioners having been given a leg-up by real intellectual doctorate holders, now appear to many as the only legitimate users of the title.

However, the public are pretty gullible. There are many practitioners and supplement suppliers willing to deceive them and take their money. Some deceivers also drink their own bathwater and think what they do is genuinely sound when it is not. I think the problem rests with these people and not genuine practices such as chiropractic.

I would prefer to have a nutritionist with a genuine PhD from a proper university – at least I would know that they had satisfied a proper academic board at some time in their life.

Most of all, I would like to know that they held admission to a learned society which required a programme of continuing professional development. Medical Practitioners and Surgeons are only now taking CPD seriously.

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

ORIGINAL: anonnymouse

Charlotte, thank you for your excellent post:

I am a Chiropractor and just wanted to add a few things. First, a lot of Chiros in the US CAN call themselves Doctor, but i think the question is not whether we can, but whether we should. My personal opinion is that in any healing or "doctor" patient relationship, as someone who has training in an area, you are responsible. That means, part of the job is to have an open dialogue with people who come in to you and you should explain these things. No abuse of power or title is ever necessary, however, I think us chiros, somtimes feel we have to prove things to the medical docs and maybe even feel that the title will make people who come in sit up and take notice, which is all a bit silly. Results are what matter and what speaks volumes and there are good and bad chiros. We do work hard for the degree and we do have a level of expertise and the original meaning of Doctor is actually "teacher"-so we should teach the public that we are not Medical docs, or GPS. Simple clear cimmunication is key.

Many thanks for this. I appreciate your honesty and sensitive handling of this issue. You do your profession a great credit- which is more than can be said about some of the comments in other posts on this topic. I agree with your final point- communication is key.

Chiropractors do indeed have an ethical and profesisonal duty to communicate effectively and clearly with their patients, and this includes the correct representation of their professional status- both implied and explicit.

RL,

Hmmm I have read and re read your posts anonymous and the only thing that has become clear to me is an overwhelming sense of your personal bias against Chiropractors. For example it has been pointed out to you that other professional use the Dr title yet they are not registered with the GMC, so clearly the title is not exclusive. Drs are also afforded the title by courtesy as many do not carry a PHD (the only formal way to confer this title). I would also like to point out that Chiropractors are rightly classed as primary healthcare Physicians and have earned the right to this coutesy title. This nonsence about the public being fooled into thinking Chiropractors are Drs of medicine is a complete red herring, the public are not fools as you would have us think; they are quite capeable of making rational decisions about their healthcare choices whether the practitioner calls him or herself DR or not. I put it to you anonymous that you could have chosen upteen targets surrounding the subject of the so called missuse of the DR title, you chose Chiropractors due to a poorly disguised personal bias the rest is window dressing. The question is why do you feels the way you do, first a story:

In the not to distant past there lived (in a quango in london) a rather over zealous Executive Officer. He for some inexplicable reason seemed to enjoy hurting the people he had power over (decendants of some Greek sounding Chap,Cheiro Practikos I think???) He even went as far as posting nasty things about the Greek descendants on the internet. He even went as far as impersonating the Greek descendants on the internet which was againts the law. Unfortunately for him the greek decendants found out and he was asked to tender his resignation or be sacked. He was told that if he resigned he would get a reference and get another job with another (newer) Quango. Which he did (oh yes and we know which one). Since then his loathing and hatred for the greek descendants has grown and he has resumed old and some would say innapropriate internet habits. funnily enough this persons initials are GP but dont worry were never were fooled into thinking that he was a General Practitioner

So if the tone and content of the anonymous posting seem a little official you may now gain some insight as to why.
I understand that the moderators may wish to either d

RE: Unethical use of title 'Doctor'

I am a registered chiropractor in the UK, and also australia.

In reply to all who post on this site, i am not quite sure what the problem is. As far as the title of Dr. being used by a chiropractor, our regulatory body requires at all times that it actually be clear that we are in fact a chiropractor, and NOT a medical practitioner. In fact, if the title Dr. is used by a chiropractor and not made clear that we are not a chiropractor, we would have very severe consequences with the general council of chiropractic.

That being said, my 2 main points are:

1) I have been a chiropractor for 5 years and have seen many patients in that time. I have never once had a patient come to my chiropractic clinic because they thought i was a GP. Nor has any of my clinics had a phone call thinking we were a medical clinic. The only confusion i have ever had is people coming in for there toe nails to be cut (chiropodist)!!!

2) The title of Dr. as it applies to chiropractors isa a ‘courtesy title’, and entirely honorary as previously mentioned, however are you aware this is the same for GP's. One previous post refers to chiropractors only having a Bsc., when in fact the opposite is true. Most chiropractors throughout the world actually have a docor of chiropractic degree (DC), or a masters degree, as well as the Bsc. Most GP's throughout the world only have a double bachelor degree MBBS - bach medicine bach surgury. I am in no way saying our degree is superior to a medical degree, as in most cases is not, however it is very different. In fact, in many cases the masters degree of chiropractic involves more hours of education than many medical degrees.

i hope this information helps, and im sorry that you seem to have a grudge that some chiropractors use the ‘courtesy title’ dr.

Dr. Matthew Smith Bsc. MChir - Chiropractor

P.S - That is how it would usually be used!

My thoughts on this thread:

I believe that Osteopaths in the UK don't use the title Dr. because they want to distance themselves from the American model of Osteopathy where all osteopaths are qualified doctors in the full 'prescribing' sense of the word.

I am not concerned about the use of the Dr title by Chiropractors because I have never witnessed any confusion caused by this and I work closely with two chiropractors.

I think the idea of Physios using the 'Dr' title is a red herring.

Agreed with Mad Monk.
I'm a British born, bred and educated chiropractor. amongst others, I hold a BSc, and an MSc in chiropractic as part of my standard training, and a "Doctor of Chiropractic" certificate, from the European Chiropractors Union (I got the certificate out to check it). This last certificate is gained after the 5 year MSc course, followed by a year of Pre Registration Training Scheme (basically a year in practice, with a mentor, CPD and additional requirements in seminars and education)

I've also checked my stationery, I use:
Xxxx Xxxx DC MSc

I am fully entitled to use the prenominal Dr if I chose, and as long as somewhere on the same stationery specifies that I am chiropractor, not a medical doctor, then I'm fine to do so - I just chose not to. As mentioned elsewhere, for anyone who doesn't hold a PhD, the title "Dr" is honourary, and that includes the vast majority of medical doctors.

I have never had a patient present to me thinking I was an MD, but I don't really see what the problem would be if they did, I would simply explain, and send them to their GP. I do not believe that chiropractors use the title to confuse patients, if they did, that would (quite rightly) be a disciplinary offence.

sorry, just couldn't resist putting this in here

[url]Dr Pepper 'has no genuine medical qualifications'[/url]

The moral integrity of soft drink giant Schweppes was called into question today after it emerged that Dr Pepper is not a real doctor, has never been to medical school or received any form of health training, and has been using the title under false pretences.
Industry experts described the news as ‘a likely body blow’ and ‘a public relations catastrophe’, claiming that Dr Pepper’s public image might never recover from the deception; ‘They probably thought that naming a soft drink after a doctor would be a sensible move, giving an impression of health and reliability,’ said Mike Blakemore, editor of the soft drinks industry magazine ‘Fizz!’ ‘But our investigations have shown that Dr Pepper has no connection with health care and is not qualified to dispense medicine or cure people.
The scandal eventually came to light when Dr Pepper began to receive a number of calls from an elderly lady who had got their number from the telephone directory. ‘She wanted an appointment about her hip. She said the replacement wasn’t working properly. We kept explaining that there was no ‘Doctor Pepper’ as such, but she wouldn’t have it.’
Mike Blakemore claims that the erstwhile ‘doctor’, who currently resides in Plano, Texas, could be threatened with legal action by the American Medical Association (AMA) for ‘impersonating a trained medical profession for the purposes of personal gain’ and risked an unlimited fine and even a jail sentence.
‘We never claimed to be anything other than a fizzy drink’ said an exasperated spokesman for Dr Pepper. ‘It’s just this nutty old woman who keeps ringing us and this rubbish industry mag that thinks it has a story.’ However Schweppes refused to deny they were developing plans for a re-launch under the new brand name ‘Mr Pepper’.
Industry experts predicted that the shocking news would provoke a bout of soul-searching among corporations and their supposedly qualified front-men. Reports last night suggested that KFC mascot Colonel Sanders may have failed his exams at West Point military academy and that General Accident had never even been in the army. In a separate development Coke has insisted it will not be changing its name despite a number of complaints from customers in the music industry.

Chiropractors call themselves 'Doctor' even though they are NOT registered medical practitioners. In my opinion, this is unethical, cynical, and potentially dangerous.

They claim it is merely a 'courtesy title', but I believe it is deliberately misleading. They know perfectly well that the lay public will naturally assume (wrongly) that they are medically registered practitioners when they call themselves Doctor, since they work in the field of healthcare.The titleendows them with a status by which their reputation is falsely enhanced, and they benefit from this commercially.

Physiotherapists and osteopaths do not call themselves 'Doctor', since they do not wish their patients to be misled, and this is enforced by their regulation. This is the correct ethical position.

It is very serious that a patient might misunderstand a chiropractor to be a registered medical doctor when they are not. This does indeed happen- a lot. I should like to invite users of this forum to indicate whether they assumed their chiropractor to be a medical doctor because of their use of the title Doctor.

The historic tradition of using this 'courtesy' title must be stopped. It is misrepesentation, and a blight on the profession of chiropractic.

Here is information on the use of the title Dr..

As a holder of a PhD I was under the impression that ONLY PhD's could oficially hold and use the title Dr, although personally I do not choose to do this.

Chiropractors call themselves 'Doctor' even though they are NOT registered medical practitioners. In my opinion, this is unethical, cynical, and potentially dangerous.

They claim it is merely a 'courtesy title', but I believe it is deliberately misleading. They know perfectly well that the lay public will naturally assume (wrongly) that they are medically registered practitioners when they call themselves Doctor, since they work in the field of healthcare.The titleendows them with a status by which their reputation is falsely enhanced, and they benefit from this commercially.

Physiotherapists and osteopaths do not call themselves 'Doctor', since they do not wish their patients to be misled, and this is enforced by their regulation. This is the correct ethical position.

It is very serious that a patient might misunderstand a chiropractor to be a registered medical doctor when they are not. This does indeed happen- a lot. I should like to invite users of this forum to indicate whether they assumed their chiropractor to be a medical doctor because of their use of the title Doctor.

The historic tradition of using this 'courtesy' title must be stopped. It is misrepesentation, and a blight on the profession of chiropractic.

It would appear then that the general gist of the last 70 odd posts is that no-one really cares. Not to mention a serious mis-understanding of the very thing being ranted about by the original poster.

Or that a better wording of the original question would be:

Medical practitioners call themselves 'Doctor' even though they are NOT holders of a PhD academic award. In my opinion, this is unethical, cynical, and potentially dangerous.

They claim it is merely a 'courtesy title', but I believe it is deliberately misleading. They know perfectly well that the lay public will naturally assume (wrongly) that they are holders of a PhD academic award when they call themselves Doctor.The title endows them with a status by which their reputation is falsely enhanced, and they benefit from this commercially.

Physiotherapists and osteopaths do not call themselves 'Doctor', since they do not wish their patients to be misled, and this is enforced by their regulation. This is the correct ethical position.

It is very serious that a patient might misunderstand a medical practitioner to hold a significantly higher academic qualification than they do. This does indeed happen- a lot. I should like to invite users of this forum to indicate whether they assumed their medical praticioner to be a PhD holder because of their use of the title Doctor.

The historic tradition of using this 'courtesy' title must be stopped. It is misrepesentation, and a blight on the profession of medicine.

😉

Dr Pepper - not a real Doctor! - wow you learn something new every day. ha ha

fascinating posts though

I think this would be an uncommon mistake for someone to mistake a chiropractor for a medical doctor unless that chiropractor worked within a medical setting and was not qualifying his or her title with Doctor of Chiropractic.
Chiropractors in common with medical doctors do not have a doctorate, however, as with medical professionals, doctor is an honorary conference of title, and this is not only a common practice in the UK but profession wide, world wide.

The OP asked discussion of the use of the title doctor and your supposition that the use of title “Doctor” indicates to the public that that person holds a medical qualification.

Not examining the public’s ability to distinguish the use of the title doctor and the false feigning of outrage, if medical practitioners and chiropractic practitioners have the same educational degree(s) in the same field of health care why would the medical profession believe it has an exclusive right to the title ‘doctor?’

I think the point of your OP Anonynmick is that you are deliberately trying to insinuate that chiropractors hold no education when of course they are very highly educated.

Hmmm I have read and re read your posts anonymous and the only thing that has become clear to me is anoverwhelming sense of your personal bias against Chiropractors....

For those interested enough to find out more try the following web address
and look up cognitio2

Hi 1238 and welcome to HP, 🙂

Just thought i would mention the last time annoymouse, not annonymick posted on this thread was in January 2007.

On behalf of the Moderating Team,

calla lily

Physiotherapists and osteopaths do not call themselves 'Doctor', since they do not wish their patients to be misled, and this is enforced by their regulation. This is the correct ethical position.

😉

Hi BIA,

There is no regulation which prevents osteopaths from calling themselves doctor so long as they clarify that they are osteopathic doctors...in exactly same way as chiropractors. In fact some osteopaths do use the 'Dr' prefix.... but most choose not, unlike most chiropractors who choose to use 'Dr'

And I'll repeat my comments earlier regarding physio's... this is an obvious red herring as physio's do not carry the primary health care practitioner status like osteos or chiros.

Just to add to the mix

On my recent pain management course the pharmacology was taught by someone who was one of my tutors when I was a nursing student. He is a nurse by profession but has completed a PhD in pharmacology. He has earned the right to call himself Dr and he does in his professional capacity, although I know him by his first name. I very much doubt anyone would assume he was a GP or physician although he probably knows more pharmacology than any GP I know.

A chartered physio even in private practice will refer to themselves as a Chartered Physiotherapist unless they have completed a PhD.

A point to note:

A recent case was upheld by the ASA against a chiropractor who used the word Doctor on their website.

This was considered false advertising and misleading to the general public.

Yes I am an Osteopath, however I respect most Chiropractors (as I respect most osteopaths), but I do not think they should use the word Doctor, as in "our doctor will be happy to chat with you about your back" as a Chiropractic associate said to me recently. It was only on asking that the doctor point was clarified. How many people would check this, not many I reckon.

How many people would check this, not many I reckon.

If anyone wants to check the credentials of a medical Dr practising in the UK, thay can do so here:

Myarka

D-o-c-t-o-r

Wow this thread is really making me chuckle.

Such jealousy exists between professions. Amazing to think some spend all their spare time attacking others. How old are we?! If you want to use doctor, use it if that is what you feel that you are. Language is fluid and the word DOCTOR holds no one true meaning.

Doctor has been used as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread to the Americas, former European colonies, and is now prevalent in most of the world. Abbreviated "Dr" it is used as a designation for a person who has obtained a doctorate-level degree.

If we want to get pedantic about the etymology:

The earliest use of "doctor" in WRITTEN English was in 1303, but the term applied to "doctors of the Church," meaning "learned men in the scriptures."

As we know, any word is simple made up (there is no RIGHT WORD). Yep, made up. Doctor is no different to [COLOR="Red"]bootylicious now in the OED. So why don't we all Chillax (also in OED) and go help some people get well!!

Good grief 😮

Hi PostureGeek & welcome to HealthyPages, I'm not sure it you noticed but this thread hasn't been active for over a year!!

Look forward to reading more of your posts
Best wishes
Amy x

A recent case was upheld by the ASA against a chiropractor who used the word Doctor on their website. This was considered false advertising and misleading to the general public.

I think I know the case you mean: Judged in 2008 yet he still practices today (Sep 2011) as 'Spinal Specialist Doctor' (No doctorate, the same small caveat buried to say 'likes to be called doctor'). He has also been struck off by the chiropractor governing body, and nothing else has been done. He bills and xrays aggressively, including children. IRMER and CQC and HSE are all responsible for policing radiological facilities but it semes to be a case of what is everybodys job, is always someone else's.

The GMC apparently is only responsible for registered doctors, any other 'abuse' isn't their remit. Anyone using the word Therapist would seem to be better policed!