Is there a doctor in the house?

I sat in the medico’s office recently while she was reviewing my personal details, and noticing the Dr prefix to my name she said, ‘Oh you’re a doctor?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but not medical.’?‘What sort?’ she replied.?‘PhD’, I answered.?‘Oh…you’re a real doctor…’ she said.

It’s not the first time I’ve been called a real doctor by a medical doctor. On the other hand, it’s also quite common for PhDs to be told they are not real doctors?thinking that such a title is reserved for physicians.[1] It’s all quite confusing.?What is the meaning of the term Doctor and what is a real doctor?

The word itself comes from the Latin word Docere (with a hard C), which means to teach.?The first doctors, were doctors of the church, being deemed knowledgeable enough to teach Theology to others.?A Doctor of Philosophy was someone able to teach others the fundamental nature of knowledge[2].?These days a PhD (or a D Phil) is a doctoral degree issued by a university (or similar institution of higher education) where the student has demonstrated deep knowledge in one tiny subject area?the test for awarding a doctorate is that the student has added to the sum of human knowledge.?People joke about PhD standing for ‘piled high and deep’ or ‘post hole digger’ – and the 2nd one of those gets quite close to the truth, as the PhD thesis drills down into a very narrow but deep exploration of a subject.?By definition someone with a PhD[3] is a world expert in one minute area of human understanding.

So where did the idea of a doctor being a physician come from? In 1838, the Royal College of Surgeons gave its graduates the right to be called doctor, recognising physicians equivalence to a doctor’s deep knowledge.?However, this was a courtesy title rather than an actual doctorate.

Physicians in the UK (and in many commonwealth countries like Australia) typically have graduated with 2 bachelor’s degrees?one in medicine and the other in surgery…MB, BS[4] or MB, ChB.?There is also an MD degree which may be taken by graduate physicians?the Doctor of Medicine degree is a research degree (similar to a PhD) in a particular medical field.

In the USA, physicians are licensed after completing their M.D. However, the American MD is a professional degree…an entry level degree to medicine equivalent to a Master’s Degree.?The same is true of the J.D. (Juris doctor) degree in law. In recent years some/ many universities in Australia have adopted MDs and JDs as professional (entry level) degrees in Medicine and Law respectively ? they are regarded as level 9 degrees as part of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) i.e. as Master’s degrees despite using the term doctor in their titles.

Hence, the honorific Dr, given to physicians here and elsewhere is technically a courtesy title given to people of significant learning, despite not necessarily holding a doctoral degree.?Some medical doctors found the granting of the title Dr to chiropractors and dentists etc. as problematic, but referring to them as doctors seems as fair as calling medical practitioners doctor.

However weird it may seem, PhDs and those with doctorates in Science, Literature, Theology, Music etc. are the real doctors.

[1] ?The term ‘Doctor’ is not a protected title indeed because it used by people other than medical practitioners. Dentists, vets (https://www.vsb.qld.gov.au/policygeneral.html#title) and, of course, the holders of doctoral degrees, PhD, SJD etc.

The use of the term Doctor (or title Dr), even by medical pracitioners is an honorific and use of the title is really governed by convention alone.?(AUSTRALIAN Emergency Law, 2018, Is ‘Doctor’ a protected?title? https://australianemergencylaw.com/2018/02/14/is-doctor-a-protected-title/#:~:text=For%20medical%20practitioners%20the%20only,people%20other%20than%20medical%20practitioners.

[2] These days a PhD is required to gain a tenured lectureship in a university, as a teaching qualification.

[3] About 2% of Australians have a doctoral degree, but only about 0.4% of the population are physicians.

[4] MB = bachelor of medicine; BS = bachelor of surgery.?ChB also = bachelor of surgery literally: Chirugiae Baccalaureus.