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Re: "Dr." and all that

The hospital story certainly brought home how the title "Doctor" is being
used by some MDs as a means of enforcing their sense of superiority. This
is analogous to the boss who insists on being called Mr., but who calls the
secretaries all by their first names. I was amazed to see the doors in a
research wing of one of the Houston hospitals. Each office had the
occupants name with the degree carefully noted.

Of course lawyers also have a controlled pecking order. My wife works as a
librarian and legal researcher for a large law firm. One officious newly
minted lawyer always introduced himself on the phone as this is Mr. xxx.
The head librarian always replied "Hello Joe". She was older, more
experienced, and willing to fight for respect.

After having been in the situation that supervisors could be called Dr, but
I was not, I decided that the title should be used. I think it is silly and
pretentious for colleagues to use titles, but they obviously do have some
significance, and usefulness.

One of the funnier aspects of this usage of titles happened when I had to
take some courses to be certified. One young assistant prof. said she
preferred to be called Dr, when someone in class inquired. Since I didn't
wish to embarrass her, I decided that professor would be more appropriate,
unless she wished to reciprocate by calling me Dr.

Again the Dr as a power club was used on a friend who had a Doctorate in
French, and was working as an administrator at a local community college.
The staff and secretaries insisted on using Dr with upper level
administrators, but refused to use it with her. The degree of racial,
sexual, and nasty politics was incredible.

Sadly, we now have a society where education, wisdom, and accomplishment are
often not respected. The breakdown of the rules about titles is just a
symptom of our society's changing rules. The rules seem to vary from first
name basis (Los Alamos Nation Lab), to insistence on titles at some
universities. Consistent polite usage would be the most appropriate. For
example Nurse, Dr, Mr., Ms, or just first name basis only.

And then there is the MD usage. I would agree that the traditional European
custom of calling them Physician is probably better. After all they still
need a "Doctorate" if they are going into research? so what are they called
then? Perhaps we should bring back the honorific Master?

John M. Clement


Now, along with Chuck Britton, I am teaching at a high school in
which about a third to a half of the faculty have PhDs, and all but
one of the seven physics teachers also do (that isn't a problem for
the odd-one-out, I don't think, because she is the best teacher of
the lot, and I think everyone realizes it, even if they don't all
admit it). Because it is a high school, there is very little pressure
to use first names to the teachers, although contrary to my college
experience, the faculty routinely call student by first names. I
think this establishes an authority line pretty clearly, and the
issue of calling the teachers Mr. or Ms., or Dr. doesn't seem
important to us, although the students take it surprisingly
seriously, being pretty careful to address those with PhDs as Dr. and
the rest as Mr. or Ms.--most of them, that is. The question often
comes up in class, and I usually reply with something to the effect,
"call me anything except late for dinner." That usually elicits a
smile and they proceed to call me Dr., but a few us Mr. (and I don't
correct them), and an occasional maverick just uses my last name with
no honorific. I haven't figured out a good way to kill that tendency
without embarrassing the student, so I've just ignored it.

However, when we refer to ourselves, or to each other when speaking
to students we always use the proper honorific, and I think that
pretty much sets the scene for most of them. This gets a habit
implanted that seems to carry on to college, at least when I talk
with our graduates they always refer to their profs as Dr. or
Professor.

As for MDs. I think they take it to extremes. Medical offices and
hospitals seem to have a severely controlled pecking order, with MDs
at the top, and everyone else way below. And nobody without an MD
seems to even entertain the notion of calling an MD anything but Dr,
especially if there might be a patient within earshot. Recently, when
I had to visit my local hospital for a minor surgical procedure, I
noticed the protocol in the operating room was informal downward and
formal upward, with the nurses and other staff referring to the MD in
charge as Dr even when he wasn't present, often just as "Dr." with no
name attached, and without "the" in front of it, as in "Will you
notify Dr. that the patient is ready?" I was slightly amused by this
practice, and during a lull in the preparations I commented that I
noticed that the operating room was on a first name basis, "He calls
you by your first name and you call him 'Dr.'" The nurse smiled
ruefully, and agreed that that was about the way it was.

I have found that in those medical practices where they are aware of
my PhD, the atmosphere is much more relaxed.

Some of you may recall the movie "Desperately Seeking Susan" from a
few years ago. Early on in the story, at a party hosted by the
heroine's husband, his sister, recently separated from her nth
husband was cruising the party looking for someone worthwhile to pick
up, and a friend pointed out a fellow across the room, saying he
looked interesting. She agreed, and then asked "Is he a Dr?" the
reply was, "Well, no, but he is a dentist." As she set off across the
room on her mission of conquest she said, "Well, at least he's not a
PhD." In that context, I suspect the issue was money. In spite of the
implied insult, I thought it was a pretty funny line.

I do, however, rather resent the success with which the MD community
seem to have preempted the title Dr., especially amongst the general
population. It is only MDs that seem to be introduced as "Dr." at
social occasions. I see no point in that except that it serves to
further exalt the ego of the person being introduced. I have no more
objection to the use of the title in a professional setting than I do
to its use in an educational setting, but it seems to serve no useful
purpose elsewhere. I have gotten into the habit of referring to MD as
"physicians" rather than "Drs," especially when I am talking directly
to them. It seems to me to be the correct title when referring to
someone, rather than when addressing them.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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