The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.0070  Thursday, 13 January 2000.

[1]     From:   John Briggs <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 15:53:47 -0000
        Subj:   RE: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

[2]     From:   Mike Sirofchuck <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 07:55:16 -0900
        Subj:   Re: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

[3]     From:   Catherine Belling <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 16:18:28 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

[4]     From:   Pat Cornett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 22:17:56 -0500
        Subj:   Re: Doctors

[5]     From:   John Savage <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 13 Jan 2000 09:11:35 -0500
        Subj:   SHK 11.0051 Re: "Doctors"


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Briggs <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 15:53:47 -0000
Subject: 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"
Comment:        RE: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

Of course, in Britain the M.D. degree is now a "higher doctorate" (post
doc, if you see what I mean!), like D.Sc., D.D. or D.Litt.  Consequently
most medics don't actually have a doctorate ...  Surgeons, however,
especially eminent ones with an M.D., insist on being addressed as
"Mr".  (Because they used to be barbers, as has been pointed out).  I
don't know about female surgeons....

The situation in Germany is that medics are not allowed to call
themselves "Doktor" unless they have a doctorate (again, only the senior
ones do).

The situation at Oxford and Cambridge is a bit subtle: as the PhD is a
modern import from Germany (D.Phil. at Oxford), it ranks below the M.A.
(Higher doctorates rank higher, of course).

John Briggs

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Mike Sirofchuck <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 07:55:16 -0900
Subject: 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"
Comment:        Re: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

When addressed as "Doctor", my good friend and noted ichthyologist Gil
Bane replied, "Ssshhh!  Don't call me that - someone may ask me to
deliver a baby."

Mike Sirofchuck

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Catherine Belling <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 16:18:28 -0500
Subject: 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"
Comment:        Re: SHK 11.0065 Re: "Doctors"

An alternative version of the airport hold up: a new lit PhD recently
told me about making a flight he would otherwise have missed by pushing
through the airport crowd and saying very loudly "Doctor coming
through"...

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Pat Cornett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 12 Jan 2000 22:17:56 -0500
Subject:        Re: Doctors

I always thought it was ostentatious to use my "Dr." title after I got
my PhD in 1975 until I began to work as a medical editor in research at
a large teaching hospital in the Detroit area. This was in the early
1980s when female MDs were almost unheard of; even female PhD scientists
were far and few between at this institution. In fact, I was unique
there-a female PhD who was not a scientist!

At first, I was almost embarrassed to use my title, but I quickly
learned that if I expected to get any respect from any one (apart from
other PhDs in research), I had to use the "Dr" title. Otherwise, I was
perceived to be a secretary, nurse, or lab technician. You wouldn't
believe how much instant attention, if not respect, "Dr" commanded,
especially when I spoke on the phone.

There was also, by the way, considerable animosity at this institution
between the PhDs in research and the MDs in clinical practice, since the
latter had better salaries, more prestige, and bigger offices (or labs)
than the former. It may have assuaged our egos to believe that we were
the "real" doctors  and MDs were mere skilled tradesmen, as a PhD friend
of mine kept reassuring herself, but that meant very little in the
political realities of the medical workplace.

Pat Cornett

[5]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Savage <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 13 Jan 2000 09:11:35 -0500
Subject: Re: "Doctors"
Comment:        SHK 11.0051 Re: "Doctors"

>Our predecessors were doctors when theirs were leech salesmen. <<

Interesting article on how successful placebos are in treating patients
in this past Sunday's N Y Times.  It seems leeches worked!

Subscribe to Our Feeds

Search

Make a Gift to SHAKSPER

Consider making a gift to support SHAKSPER.