If I graduated with a Doctoral Degree but not from a medical field ...

[Tekate]

In the hospital setting I love the white coats all the docs wear, it said right up on the left or right, don't remember (lucky me no operations since 2012) Jane Smith, M.D., altho I wouldn't confuse an physician from a nurse since nurses uniforms are different, but lab techs do wear white coats, some of them do anyway.

And yup @missy , do no harm. My SIL the pediatric cardiologist always had her sick little ones call her Dr Jane, of course she always had a steth on her neck too, she dealt with very very sick children, she was focused, but now she's seeing the world, and I'm happy for her. It is very tough to have 2 kids 1 step kid, a husband who didn't work due to layoffs and parents that were ill, plus be on call for a heart transplant team, I get it and I so admired her ability to focus on what we were doing at any moment, that is awesome.

I want to be on even footing with ANY professional I need for my health or my life, my feelings really date back to the 50s and 60s when physicans were gods, and did harm to my grandmother and almost to my mother (but lucky mom, I stepped in).

I do not feel comfortable with a physican who walks in the the room and says: Hi Kate I'm Dr Smith, nope doesn't fly for me, but I am a socialist Missy - okay not a full blown one per se, but I am opposed to an American hierarchy class system as a whole, understand it exists but have always believed we should do less homage and more discussion when it comes to health, my taxes, my investments, etc. just who I am.

A woman or a man came into a room my age now in the 50s and 60s I had to stand up, truth, my mother said we had to, and I still do it if there is an ancient one (80s and above) who come into a room, the way I was raised, respect for the elderly. I can go into a store today and a service person can says "Dude can I help you?" no lie, when we have a society where we value physicians more than a person who is desperately seeking refuge I stand up and have to speak. No one uses Mrs. Jones today, my mother called all of my school friends mother's Mrs something if she was not friends with them. I respect anyone and in particular the medical profession that devotes so much time to education, I'm down with a very good salary, I'm also down with medical school being government paid because it takes the onus off the physican to pick a higher paying specialty they may not have wanted but they owe 500K after all their schooling. But I'm not an anarchist yet (j/k), i'm a 1960s power to the people woman though.

xoxoxo

The only people who ever call me doctor are/were my patients. I always introduce myself first name last name in any other situation. And I prefer when adult people call me by my first name in social and other non professional situations.

I have friends who use the doctor title when making appointments and such but I never do that. To me it feels pretentious in a way but I get why they do it. They feel they get better service when using the doctor title. And maybe they do but it's not something I feel comfortable with. I worked hard for my degrees (4 years post college plus a year plus residency) but other than professional life I prefer being called by my first name no title and that includes Ms/Mrs/Dr.

FWIW I used to work in a hospital and everyone called me doctor last name. As @cmd2014 writes it is important for patients to know who we are and it is also comforting to them to know we are professionals who can help them as experts in our field. Which is what the title doctor conveys. And yes there are strict laws governing what we can and cannot do in each health field profession. Built in safety for patients. Remember first "do no harm" and hopefully leave each person a little better (or a lot better) health wise than when we first encountered them.

 

[missy]

I do not feel comfortable with a physican who walks in the the room and says: Hi Kate I'm Dr Smith,

I agree 100%. Personally when I saw patients I always addressed them formally as Mr., Ms., Dr. and would never use their first name. Equals. I feel it would be disrespectful if I called them by their first name and they called me Dr Last.

And I was not connected to being called doctor. Most patients preferred calling me Dr. but if someone called me Melissa I was OK with that too. I was there to help them as best I could and didn't really care about what they called me. Lots of them called me Doc much like Karl does with his doctors.

 

[MonkeysInk]

My friend's dad retired as a ltg (3 star general). We all referred to him as "the general" or general Rick. He laughed.

My husband is a commander. He is taking a little extra grief right now due to the popularity of The Handmaid's Tale.

 

[alene]

As a psychologist, I’m Dr. Lastname to my patients, though I’m fine with Doc, or Dr. Firstname. If an older patient insisted on calling me by my first name, I’d be ok with that, though I’d take that as an invitation to call them by their first name as well. To my students/interns, I introduce myself by my first name, bit if they prefer Doctor, it’s fine by me. I would not be ok with Mrs/Ms/Miss in the professional environment. Outside of work, I never use the doctor title.

 

[MonkeysInk]

...on a side note, I have a dear friend who is also a pharmacist that graduated a few years after I did, and we always address letters/cards to each other as Dr. Msop04 and Dr. BestRxBuddy... ya know, so we don't forget how important we are. LOL

@msop04 one of my kids has a rare disease and there are a number of meds he can't take (and a fairly unusual one that he does take) so we have a pretty friendly relationship with our pharmacist. I call him by his first name, but when I first introduced my kids to him, I was like "kids, meet Dr. X" and he was so surprised that I knew he was a doctor. The kids always call him Dr. X and you can tell that he loves it, he just beams every time they say it.

My teenager wants to pursue a career in medicine and I'm trying to talk her into shadowing him for a day.

 

[Tekate]

As an older patient I would call you by your first name and expect the same courtesy back. Altho I don't think any of my therapists over the years called me Mrs or anything or me them. Not sure how I would want it with a PhD therapist most of mine of been MSWs. But all of them have helped me!

As a psychologist, I’m Dr. Lastname to my patients, though I’m fine with Doc, or Dr. Firstname. If an older patient insisted on calling me by my first name, I’d be ok with that, though I’d take that as an invitation to call them by their first name as well. To my students/interns, I introduce myself by my first name, bit if they prefer Doctor, it’s fine by me. I would not be ok with Mrs/Ms/Miss in the professional environment. Outside of work, I never use the doctor title.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I know someone who has a philosophy PhD, and he thinks it’s presumptuous for anyone who isn’t a medical doctor to want to be addressed as “doctor”.

 

[alene]

As an older patient I would call you by your first name and expect the same courtesy back. Altho I don't think any of my therapists over the years called me Mrs or anything or me them. Not sure how I would want it with a PhD therapist most of mine of been MSWs. But all of them have helped me!

If I were doing therapy, I’d think it would make for good session material to try to understand what my title, or the insistence on avoiding it means to the patient. Since I don’t do therapy, I just ask the patients how they prefer to be addressed.

 

[Tekate]

Well I told Missy above why I don't like using titles. So I already know why I don't. But I always went to therapy for MUCH BIGGER ISSUES. I'd say to a therapist after he/she asked me what you said below, I would say back, "why does t matter what I call you? I am here to work on my PTSD".

If I were doing therapy, I’d think it would make for good session material to try to understand what my title, or the insistence on avoiding it means to the patient. Since I don’t do therapy, I just ask the patients how they prefer to be addressed.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I call my patients by their first names. They call me by my first name. I think it is also the culture of my work environment.

 

[AGBF]

I call my patients by their first names. They call me by my first name. I think it is also the culture of my work environment.

I am not trying to say that everyone has to do this. I just so much enjoy hearing that not everything is black and white. I often use titles and I taught my daughter to call most adults "Mr" and "Mrs" last name. Then I remembered how one of my best friends had made me "Aunt" to her son, who was to become my godson, and how I have since then been Aunt to all her grandchildren. My family never used "Aunt" as a title, but I believe I am the only non-biological "Aunt" her children and grandchildren have. And I remembered that I had gone on and used "Aunt" with my first name with the children of my cleaning woman to whom I became quite close. I guess it grew on me. I also sometimes use my first name with children. I may have taught my daughter old-fashioned manners, but I don't like introducing myself to children as "Mrs. last name". I had to do it when I taught school, of course (and in French class, I was "Madame"). But as a social worker no one forced me to use my title. I guess no one was looking over my shoulder!

 

[rocks]

My husband is a commander. He is taking a little extra grief right now due to the popularity of The Handmaid's Tale.

Oy...my dad's best friend is/was a rear admiral. He and general Rick are two of the most remarkable people I've known. Their accomplishments aside, both were committed to their charitable work and worked tirelessly for their communities and causes.

And...lots of grief!

 

[Lookinagain]

Well, I have a J. D. and it's interesting that out of all the doctoral degrees, PhD, MD, DDS, DVM, etc. attorneys use Esq. and are never called doctor. Not that I'd want to be. But I wonder what the reason is. Must be historical.
I find it silly and/or pretentious when another attorney calls me and says, "This is attorney so-and-so". Just tell me your name and why you are calling. The reason you are calling will tell me that you are an attorney because the conversation usually starts with "I represent.....".

 

[AGBF]

Well, I have a J. D. and it's interesting that out of all the doctoral degrees, PhD, MD, DDS, DVM, etc. attorneys use Esq. and are never called doctor. Not that I'd want to be. But I wonder what the reason is. Must be historical.

I find it silly and/or pretentious when another attorney calls me and says, "This is attorney so-and-so". Just tell me your name and why you are calling. The reason you are calling will tell me that you are an attorney because the conversation usually starts with "I represent.....".

I believe because the JD is new. The "doctorate" for lawyers used to be the doctor of laws degree one could earn after a master of laws degree. Finally lawyers wised up and realized that for three years of post graduate (i.e. post college) study they should be calling their regular law school education some kind of doctorate.

 

[cmd2014]

Well, I have a J. D. and it's interesting that out of all the doctoral degrees, PhD, MD, DDS, DVM, etc. attorneys use Esq. and are never called doctor. Not that I'd want to be. But I wonder what the reason is. Must be historical.
I find it silly and/or pretentious when another attorney calls me and says, "This is attorney so-and-so". Just tell me your name and why you are calling. The reason you are calling will tell me that you are an attorney because the conversation usually starts with "I represent.....".

That's interesting. It must only be in the US, because it's not in use here in Canada, and in the UK it means something else entirely. It's cool though. It sounds fancy.

Here we still go with LLB (Bachelor of Law), LLM (Master of Law), and JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence). Although I hear some schools are switching over to the JD for the 3 year undergraduate law degree rather than keeping it for the law degree equivalent of the Ph.D. that it used to be.

 

[Lookinagain]

That's interesting. It must only be in the US, because it's not in use here in Canada, and in the UK it means something else entirely. It's cool though. It sounds fancy.

Here we still go with LLB (Bachelor of Law), LLM (Master of Law), and JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence). Although I hear some schools are switching over to the JD for the 3 year undergraduate law degree rather than keeping it for the law degree equivalent of the Ph.D. that it used to be.

Well we still have LLM in the US for folks who go on after law school to get a specialty type law degree but I never thought of it as an equivalent of a PhD. I don't know that any law schools use LLB anymore, maybe because it has "Bachelor" in the name and that would seem to refer to a 4 year undergraduate degree like a B.A.. Since you need one of those ( or a B.S.) before you can go to law school and J. D. is an advanced degree, LLB probably isn't seen anymore (at least I don't see any law schools around here giving out LLB's.)

 

[AGBF]

...and there is still life after the LLM.

"After graduating with a Juris Doctor a person is eligible for practicing law in the particular state where they pass their bar examination. A person may then go on to specialize in a specific area of the law and study for a Master of Laws degree. For those individuals that prefer to work in academia or in other types of work that has an emphasis in legal scholarship, the Doctor of Laws is the next step.

A Doctor of Laws degree is the highest level of law degree that is offered in the United States. The Doctor of Laws degree falls into four general categories including a Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of Jurisprudence, Doctor of Philosophy, and a Doctor of Comparative Law. The American Bar Associate states that there are around 20 law schools in the United States that currently offer doctor of laws degrees. The majority of the programs are exclusive and limit enrollment to only one or possibly two exceptional and extraordinary candidates each year."

https://legalcareerpath.com/doctor-of-laws-j-s-d-s-j-d/

 

[Lookinagain]

I believe because the JD is new. The "doctorate" for lawyers used to be the doctor of laws degree one could earn after a master of laws degree. Finally lawyers wised up and realized that for three years of post graduate (i.e. post college) study they should be calling their regular law school education some kind of doctorate.

Yes, you're probably right. Like I mentioned in my post, calling it a bachelor's degree when you already have one of those probably didn't recognize that it was something beyond a 4 year college degree. I guess new is relative. I graduated from law school almost 40 years ago and most schools were already giving out JDs although a few still gave out LLB's.

 

[Lookinagain]

...and there is still life after the LLM.

"After graduating with a Juris Doctor a person is eligible for practicing law in the particular state where they pass their bar examination. A person may then go on to specialize in a specific area of the law and study for a Master of Laws degree. For those individuals that prefer to work in academia or in other types of work that has an emphasis in legal scholarship, the Doctor of Laws is the next step.

A Doctor of Laws degree is the highest level of law degree that is offered in the United States. The Doctor of Laws degree falls into four general categories including a Doctor of Juridical Science, Doctor of Jurisprudence, Doctor of Philosophy, and a Doctor of Comparative Law. The American Bar Associate states that there are around 20 law schools in the United States that currently offer doctor of laws degrees. The majority of the programs are exclusive and limit enrollment to only one or possibly two exceptional and extraordinary candidates each year."

https://legalcareerpath.com/doctor-of-laws-j-s-d-s-j-d/

That's very interesting. I don't recall that any of my law school professors had a Doctor of Laws, but even if they did I probably wouldn't have known what it meant! They probably have long retired, or I'd go check out their CVs.

 

[AGBF]

Yes, you're probably right. Like I mentioned in my post, calling it a bachelor's degree when you already have one of those probably didn't recognize that it was something beyond a 4 year college degree. I guess new is relative. I graduated from law school almost 40 years ago and most schools were already giving out JDs although a few still gave out LLB's.

Please don't make me think about time. I just got the invitation to my 50th high school reunion. I probably thought that since JDs were just coming into fashion back when I was applying to law schools that they were "new".

Indeed, everything is relative.

Deb