[Magdalen] Physician?

[Sally Davies]

Vets are "Doctor" here too and jolly well rightly so.

They study for as long as human doctors, covering much of the same
territory in basic sciences; and their patients are not only unable to
explain how they feel, but very often feel the need to defend themselves
with teeth and claws or mighty kicks.

They also have to learn how to treat and heal several - sometimes many -
different species from dogs, cats, horses and farm animals to birds and
reptiles as well as a range of wildlife.

Their patients can be worth as little as a couple of million dollars for a
top race horse, or as much as a human owner's entire heart - especially
children and the elderly.

Let's hear it for the vets!

Sally D

On Friday, 15 January 2016, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3 at ckt.net> wrote:

> I'm not so sure about the "physician" name or title, but around here, the
> title "Doctor" or "Doc" in ordinary speech and address goes to vets, MDs,
> DOs, chiropractors, dentists, anybody who works on the body, human or
> animal.  With or without an academic doctorate in anything.  Maybe not
> barbers, hairstylists, manicurists, farriers or masseurs, though I think a
> few hundred years ago a barber was automatically a surgeon.
>
> Oddly enough, I somehow got the title "Dr" attached in front of my name,
> just because I'm subscribed to Science magazine, though I guarantee that I
> never told them that I had a doctorate in anything, or put it on my checks
> or my subscription form.  I am a member or the American Association for the
> Advancement of Science, which I pay for in order to get the magazine. I
> hope that doesn't spread across the mailing lists from there: someone might
> think that I wrote it down deliberately.
>
>
>
> On 1/15/16 10:48 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen wrote:
>
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Sibyl Smirl
> I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
> mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net
>