[Magdalen] Physician?

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

I spoke on telephone last night and today with a veterinary  specialist
caring for our sick spaniel.  She was struggling to put some facets  of
her examination into lay terms, and to make it easier for her, I  mentioned
that I was a physician.
 
Her response surprised me.  She said, "Oh....of humans?"
 
The inference I think was that veterinarians - maybe especially 
specialist veterinarians - now think of themselves as physicians.
 
This may be just her own idiosyncrasy or in may be a more 
widespread practice, but I had not encountered it before.
 
My handy Merriam-Webster doesn't apply it to non-human
healers, but the second meaning, "One exerting a remedial
or salutary influence," may cover this new meaning.
 
She, and others in her profession are welcome to the physician
label as I don't think the term has been copyrighted by the (human)
medical profession.
 
As one old craggy retired US Navy physician used to say  (between
puffs on his chain-smoked Lucky Strikes), "I don't care what they
call me as long as they pay the bill."
 
 
David Strang