AMA has proposed legislation to restrict use of the term "doctor"

just to throw in a tidbit of info here about the use of the term "doctor" with 'doctorate degrees'. did you guys know that the AMA has proposed to the House and Senate that the title Doctor be restricted to dentists, physicians and podiatrists? I received an email from the APA being that I am a member. So, if the AMA has their way, then any one with a PhD or professional doctorate, i.e. DBA, PsyD, Ed. D., etc. cannot refer to himself or herself as "doctor". The AMA states that this misleads the patients in hospitals. Wow, what about teaching/university hospitals that have research PhDs working there or any doctorate level person.

A MD is a doctor of medicine, a Psy D is a doctor of psychology, a DBA a doctor of business admin. I don't see why all the hoopla with the AMA. A PhD or Doctor of some specific area of study is as good as a MD.

 

That sounds absurd but I wouldn't put it past the AMA.

The term comes from the Latin docre, to teach. Perhaps the AMA should stick to the description of their profession which is Physician because most of the ones I know are rather poor excuses for teachers. However, I can see how it may be confusing to the layperson seeking medical treatment. On the other hand, everyone who has earned a doctorate degree has certainly earned the privilege of being called Doctor. The sad part of this story is that the house and senate is wasting valuable time arguing the merits of this horse hockey while the American health care system is in chaos.

 

I doubt that it's targeted so much at getting other legitimate doctorate-holders shut out as it is aimed at the quacks, given the recent prolifieration of Doctors of Naturopathy, etc.

The AMA itself seems to encourage folks to properly distinguish between physicians and doctors, as evidenced here.

 

How recent was your information? The only relevant item I could find in THOMAS was the proposed Healthcare Truth and Transparency Act of 2007, which has been in a House committee for over a year.

The requirements of that law look pretty inoffensive:

 

The AMA proposed this to the House and Senate on April 8, 2008.

The statements below are copied and pasted from an email received from the APA.

"APA Contests Proposed AMA Resolution on Title Restriction

Leaders of the American Psychological Association (APA) sent a letter on June 12 to the American Medical Association (AMA) strongly opposing the adoption of a proposed resolution on restricting use of the titles "doctor," "resident" and "residency" in medical settings.

See APA's letter and learn breaking news on the AMA's action."

June 18, 2008—The American Psychological Association sent a letter on June 12 to the principal policy-making body of the American Medical Association (AMA) strongly opposing a proposed resolution that the AMA House of Delegates just considered. The proposed resolution [Microsoft Word document, 28.5 KB] supported restricting the use of "doctor," "resident" and "residency" in medical settings to physicians, dentists and podiatrists. "

http://www.apapractice.org/apo/in_the_news/apa_contests_proposed.html#

 

I know many folks with doctorates and PhDs working in health care settings who use the title Dr. The medical ctr I work for, the director of the center has an Ed D and refers to himself as doctor just like the physicians there. PhD psychologists and Psy Ds are also referred to as doctor, and a person I know who works at a hospital with a DBA in the business dept is also called Dr. Hutchins.

 

What about the nurses with a Doctorate in Nursing Sciences( DNSc., RN)
or even the Juris Doctor?

 

I am wondering if by a crazy twist of fate this will pass, how then people with doctorate would refer to themselves and or how this will be enforce?

 

I think you're misunderstanding the issue. This was not proposed to the House and Senate of the United States. This was a resolution introduced before the AMA's House of Delegates (though it did encourage the AMA to pursue similar legislation). Had this resolution passed, it would have been binding only on AMA members. In essence, AMA members would have agreed that they would only use the term "doctor" to apply to physicians, dentists, and podiatrists, and that they only would have used the term "resident" to apply to individuals in physician, dentist or podiatrist training programs.

The only public effect would have been that an AMA-member physician (and there are plenty of practicing physicians who are not members) would only use the terms doctor and resident as proscribed.

 

The AMA is a bunch of chutzpadiks!

 

Bassackwards

To become a physician only required a Bachelors degree, until around the early part of the 20th Century. Additionally, physicians were not called "doctors" until about the 1850s and onwards; but doctoral holders have been called "doctors" for about a thousand years. Furthermore, it's interesting to note that in the late 20th Century, much of the uneducated public erroneously assumed that only physicians are doctors -- and everyone else is a wannabe medical doctor.

 

Well, I say that the American Management Association ought to pass a resolution decreeing that anyone not holding the deegrees of Doctor of Administration, Doctor of Business Administration, Doctor of Commerce, Doctor of Management, Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration, or Doctor of Technology in Business Administration be declared a fake doctor.

 

Update

The resolution did not pass. One hopes the letter from the APA helped in this matter. Instead the AMA passed a resolution stating that health care professionals should not misrepresent their credentials and that persons holding a doctorate should be able to use that title if it is the appropriate degree for that profession.

Here is the backstory. The professional bodies governing physical therapists and nurse practitioners are pushing for those professions to be trained at the doctoral level. For physical therapists the degree will be a DPT or Doctor of Physical Therapy and for nurses it would be a DPN of Doctorate in Nursing Practice. Some physicians are appalled that professions they regard as subservient to them would be entitled to use the term "doctor." This is basically one part of the ongoing turf war between physicians and nurse practitioners over scope of practice. The AMA party line was that the term "doctor" should be protected and reserved to physicians and a few other professions in medical setting to prevent confusion on the part of patients. While this is understandable, it is already unethical for anyone to misrepresent their training and credentials.

 

Here, here, I second the motion. All in favor? All opposed? (gavel hitting the desk) the proposed resolution has passed with a majority to those in favor.

It is then agreed that all PhDs, DBAs, etc. shall hereby refer to all medical doctors as "saw bones" or in polite circumstances "physician".

 

And whot ever would we do with the PharmD's??? Call them drug dealers

 

That's not quite accurate. I can immediately recall a physician being called a doctor in the Merry Wives of Windsor.

 

Maybe he was a doctor? LOL

 

The early European universities, which arose in the 12th century, offered the Bachelor of Arts (on completion of the trivium), Master of Arts (on completion of the quadrivium), Doctor of Law, Doctor of Medicine, and Doctor of Theology. I seem to recall Doctor Bear making some comment that the mediaeval Doctors of Medicine simply trained more Doctors of Medicine, while actual physicians learned by apprenticeship. In the United States, physicians were trained by apprenticeship until the mid-19th century, when it became possible to earn the Doctor of Medicine from an American school, and then it took until the early 20th century for the MD-trained physicians to "phase out" the apprenticeship-trained physicians.

 

"AMA has proposed to the House and Senate that the title Doctor be restricted to dentists, physicians and podiatrists? "

Interesting, especially since the physicians I know, don't consider dentists or podiatrists "doctors", and don't even mention chiropractors.

 

What about optometrists or psychologists?