Christian Counseling Degree not enough to be a "Doctor" (MD that is)...

https://www.thecoastnews.com/court-rules-against-burkholder-after-challenge/

She referred to herself as "Doctor" (holding an unaccredited PhD), but went on TV and talked about "vaccinations and communicable diseases". A "doctorate" does not an MD make (though I'm not sure her comments were implying that she had a medical license).

 

It sounds like the issue is she was discussing medical topics and using the title "Dr." Even with an accredited degree, you must stay within the scope of practice of your degree when you are dealing with counseling, social work, medical, Chiro and so on. Otherwise, it looks like you are putting people at risk by providing medical advice. You also must be transparent about your qualifications (if you hold licenses).

Sadly, in this case it is compounded by an unaccredited degree so it is questionable whether she really should have been using "Dr."

In some states even if she did have an accredited counseling degree (graduate level) and license, she could only use "Dr." if the doctorate was accredited by a US Dept of Ed agency AND in a related field. That would also not allow her to give medical advice.

 

Yes, Garp, that is true.

I suspect she was speaking as a political candidate about vaccinations, etc. (which is a political issue here in CA) and not as a therapist. I'm sure the others in the race perhaps have addressed it too...likely without any background in the field.

 

I watched a documentary on TV about a man who was a gifted painter but all he painted was forgeries. These were good enough to fool professional museum curators who were experts in that area. Once he had finished a piece he would assume another identity, often that of a priest, and he would bring the painting to a museum in some distant city and he would donate it to the museum. These paintings were always accepted with gratitude and made a part of the museum collection. Eventually these curators began to suspect the truth and while they stopped accepting his paintings (he began traveling further afield to pull off this scheme) they could not charge him with a crime because no one had paid anything for the works. They were donated, free. His primary satisfaction was in fooling the experts, not making money.

So perhaps the "Doctor" referenced above is free from prosecution because she is not accepting payment for her advice. After all, anyone can stand on a street corner and lecture on any subject, can't they?

 

Especially politicians speaking on "the issues". They speak on lots of things that they don't have an "expertise" in.

 

This might depend on the state. I know Robert Jarvik caught some crap from members of Congress who said his appearing in commercials for lipitor constituted practicing medicine without a license (he never completed a residency and has never held a license despite having graduated from medical school). I'm pretty sure you can still get in trouble for practicing medicine without a license even if no money changes hands, at least in New York. I'm just not sure how often someone would practice medicine without a license and accept no fee. Normally the sort that do that are after money. But I think when you periodically get a kid who walks into a hospital and grabs a labcoat and spends the day pretending to be a doctor, charges of practicing medicine without a license are on the table provided they actually did do something medical other than walking around and perfecting their doctor swagger.

 

Well it's certainly true that state laws vary in lots of ways. You could be right about everything you've said. I don't really know where the line is drawn. But I'm pretty sure that if I put on a lab coat, hang a stethoscope around my neck and make a TV commercial for Lipitor, I'm not practicing medicine without a license, I'm an actor making a living in a TV commercial.

 

I only trust medical advice from Jenny McCarthy and Gwenyth Paltrow. Everyone else is a fraud, charlatan, or quack.

 

Ummm --- OK. Well, at least Jenny and Gwyneth don't claim to be doctors...

 

I know that McCarthy has this whole anti-vax thing going and that's bad enough but Paltrow has all this truly weird stuff happening in her head

https://www.businessinsider.com/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-bad-health-advice-2016-5

 

Absolutely true. That's what makes it so evident they ain't doctors. They can't even play doctor!

 

WOW!!

 

Well said.