Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "CA Won't Let Some Doctors Use 'Dr' In Their Names" video.

Typically, what I see is Dr. So and So PhD or MD or EDD and the like. In a medical setting, even if somebody isn't a doctor, they'll get the same, just without the dr. at the front. So, often times we'll see a nurse practitioner as in an APRN or a physician's assistant PA. To make matters more confusing, you're also getting degrees like an osteopathic doctor D.O. as well. So, having or not having a Dr. at the beginning of the name tells you very little, even if they do have a medicine related doctorate. Not to mention that if you're at a large hospital, there's a decent chance that the individual you are dealing with, a physicist as part of the hospital's radiology department. The state would have more of a point if there weren't already a requirement to clarify the degree within the fields they include.
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Even without the law, she's likely risking lawsuits if somebody relies on their belief that she's a medical doctor when accepting advice and something goes wrong.
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@00loopyl0 That's similar to dentistry. A DDS takes far less time than an MD does. But, it's also a much more limited scope of practice as well.
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No it's not though. Even with an approved doctorate, you still need to specify the degree anywhere that your name appears. Both a D.O. and an M.D. are both allowed to use the title Dr., but the degrees are somewhat different. Similarly, you'd probably want to know ahead of time that somebody you're expecting to perform surgery on is a surgeon or just a regular MD. Sometimes, an MD doing minor surgery is OK, but you should know ahead of time without having to ask if they're qualified as a surgeon and why that is OK in a specific situation. Every business card I've gotten from a doctor and whenever I've gotten paperwork from a medical office, it always specifies the degree whenever the dr. title is used because there are so many ways of being a doctr. Even in CA where the rules are apparently more strict, that would still be needed as there are multiple degrees that allow you to use the title.
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@DeIeted Yes, the typical degree to be a practicing dentist is Doctorate of Dental Surgery.
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When I was in highschool the head football coach at my highschool was in the same position. His legal name was Dr because his parents wanted him to become a physician. He did eventually go to medical school and become a doctor. I can't recall what the specific field was, but IIRC, it was something related to physical therapy. I'm kind of wondering what would have happened during the period before he was old enough to go to medical school in California rather than here in Washington where that law isn't on the books though.
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@SoloRenegade Mostly yes, although there are a lot of medical jobs that do require a PhD. Psychology and nuclear medicine spring to mind. It's common to have nuclear physicists working at hospitals dealing with certain types of testing equipment.
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Having worked at a college for many years and having spent 9 years earning various degrees, I can tell you that it's a mixed bag of who does and doesn't use the title. Having a doctorate does allow you to use the term dr., in most fields, but that doesn't guarantee that people choose to use it.I'ts a mixed bag as to who does and doesn't use the title and it seems to have nothing to do with their competence or ability. Some of the most and least competent people I've met are on both sides of the divide. I don't know any lawyers around here that refer to themselves as doctor, even though they need to either pass the bar or have a juris doctorate before taking the bar. (WA is a weird state where we just require that people pass the bar, there is no requirement that you go to law school to get licensed)
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Chances are it's a recognized doctor filing the complaint. I'm not sure how many other people even know that this is a law on the books.
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I wonder how my football coach would have done before he got his medical degree. His parents really wanted him to become a physician, so they named him literally D. R. and everybody called him that. He did go on to get a medical degree that would qualify under this particular law, not that it applies, we live in a different state. I do wonder what the basis is for this being allowable under the 1st amendment, as it appears to go beyond any sort of reasonable regulatory basis and affects people that have legitimate doctorates, rather than people just pretending to have doctorates. Around here, pretty much the only people I know of that have doctorates that never put dr. in their titles are lawyers and dentists. Even though it's juris doctorate and doctorate of dental surgery respectively
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@dmaeder Here in WA that's the norm. If you're using the Dr. prefix then it is always paired with some sort of suffix to specify what type of doctorate the person has. It's also common for the degree to be used as a suffix for professions like nursing or dentistry even if there is no title being used. I assume that has to do with licensing requirements and the policies of the various institutions these people work for. But,while you might say Dr. So and So, it would also be written with the degree and you can always ask if you need or want to know what the doctorate is in.
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@jeromethiel4323 That varies from state to state. Some states, especially TX IIRC, are very specific about what you need to do to be allowed to use the title or refer to yourself as such. In the case of engineer, that's a bit of overreach. I do think that calling it software engineering is kind of ridiculous as it's not anywhere near what engineers do, but that's the route that the industry chose for the degree. I'm guessing it's because it started with electrical engineers and progressed more in the software side in recent decades.
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@MeppyMan Chiropractors do sometimes overstep what the service they're providing does. But, what they do does qualify as evidence based medicine in most of what they do. It's just that they can overstep a bit in terms of what they think the consequences of having the spine properly aligned will do.
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@Carahan There's a few like that. Major Minor shows up as well.
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@mattdsoares How often are you in to see somebody where you don't know that already? The only time I can think of is when I was hauled into the ICU after having a heat stroke and I don't have any idea who any of the people were independent of the medical records. And title, title and suffix or none of the above wouldn't do anything to change that.
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