Not That Kind of Doctor: Difference between revisions

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Sherlock Holmes|Doctor Watson]] is that kind of doctor, if only to underline how much above even medical doctors Holmes is cognitively.

** When faking an illness to lure out his would-be murderer, Holmes is forced to keep Watson at a distance by claiming risk of infection, but really because he's afraid Watson's medical knowledge would easily penetrate the disguise. Holmes's own medical insight is mostly limited to forensics, criminal and otherwise.

** Troi's title is Counselor, meaning she probably filled the role of a guidance counselor of sorts to the crew (more of a psychologist's job, and while they are doctors in the Ph.D. sense, her empathic nature helped her more than her training). Also, the official medical doctors all were required to learn multiple alien anatomies as well as forensics and other analysis. McCoy is pretty dependent on his lab in the original, but in space the doctors have to be able to cope with an emergency. After all, Klingon anatomy has double- or triple-redundancies to keep them fighting and Vulcans have their heart in their abdominal cavity, so why risk being underprepared?

** All of these doctors (aside from Phlox, who's not an actual member of Starfleet, and Voyager's Doctor, who's a hologram) do have ranks, designated on their uniforms. McCoy was a Lt. Commander, for example. Troi, who does not wear a uniform, held the rank of Lt. Commander for most of the show and got a [[Hand Wave]] of not wanting to intimidate her clients because she out-ranked them. (Granted, what she was wearing instead was probably [[Distracted by the Sexy|off-putting in other ways...]]) Crusher was a Commander. Bashir was a Lieutenant.

* The Doctor of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has medical knowledge and ''has'' used it to heal people on occasion, but science is his forte and "Doctor" part of his assumed identity anyway. In ''The Moonbase'', he claims to have received a medical degree... under Lister on ''19th century'' Earth. In any case, he's had centuries to come by plenty of knowledge honestly.

** Martha Jones eventually became that sort of doctor. Her (temporary) fiancé Tom Milligan is also one.

* In ''[[Torchwood]]'', Doctor Owen Harper is that kind of doctor.

* An episode of ''[[Sanctuary]]'' has Will and Abby kidnapped by a gang seeking medical aid for their boss, who was, of course, attacked by an abnormal. They go through about a half a minute of trying to convince said crooks that they are psychologists, which they are. It does not work.

{{quote|'''Abby''': Sigmund & Anna Freud, right here.}}

{{quote|'''Hotch''': You told me you were cleared to travel. You lied.

'''Reid''': No, I didn't. I am a doctor, so technically it wasn't a lie.

'''Garcia''': You're my bitch now. }}

* The ''[[CSI]]'' franchise has two ex-doctors. ''[[CSI]]'' had Dr. Ray Langston and ''[[CSI: NY]]'' has Dr. Sheldon Hawkes. Both have ended up giving emergency care a time or two. Hawkes even helps with a bicycle first aid team in the park. Of course, the medical examiners (Robbins, Hammerbeck) are also doctors, but don't practice medicine.

* Lampshaded, played with and kicked to death in ''[[Top Gear]]'', of all programmes. Jeremy revealed that he had obtained a cheaper quote for insurance because he called himself 'Doctor', rather than a journalist - the two pay vastly different rates of Car Insurance. He ignored the other two's protestations that HONOURARY doctorates don't count.

 

* [[Spider-Man|Spider-Man's]] foe Dr. Octopus has a doctorate in nuclear physics.

** Lampshaded in ''[[Secret Wars]]'': Volcana asks Doctor Octopus to tend to the severely wounded Molecule Man; Octopus replies that his doctorate is in nuclear physics, not medicine, but he'll see what he can do...

* ''[[Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja|Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja]]'' features Irving Yagyu, DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery). He's called "the ninja dentist" because [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|that's exactly what he is...]]

* The original Dr Fate was a doctor of archeology. Most of the subsequent Dr Fates weren't doctors at all, they'd just [[Legacy Character|inherited the name]]. The current version is a psychoanalyst, though.

== Fanfiction ==

* There are several Liberty's Kids fanfics where the author has mistaken Dr. Benjamin Franklin as a medical doctor. He had an honorary doctorate in law and science.

 

 

* There was an episode of ''[[Lost in Space]]'' when aliens mistook Dr Smith for a medical doctor, despite his protests otherwise. Of course, he ''was'' originally a medical doctor, but then the writers just changed him to a [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]].

* Used in, of all places, ''[[Growing Pains]]'' where Dr. Seaver has to help a young girl during her [[Born in An Elevator]] moment. When she hears his title he admits that he is a Psychiatrist, not a Medical Doctor, but assures her that he is still trained in basic medicine.

* Aversion: [[Frasier|Dr. Frasier Crane]] and his brother Niles are both That Kind Of Doctor, despite frequently (and amusingly) being mistaken for Not. Possibly a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|borderline case]] since psychiatrists (MDs who complete residencies and board certification in mental illness) are commonly conflated with non-MD-holding mental health professionals such as psychologists and social workers.

** It doesn't help that Frasier and Niles are usually seen [[All Psychology Is Freudian|helping people with personal drama, bad habits, and relationship issues]], which is, usually, a councilor or social worker's job. Frasier uses his [[Ivy League for Everyone|Ivy-league education]] to feed his minor celebrity while Niles seems to care more about maintaining his lifestyle and social status. The joke may be that no one takes Psychiatry seriously, or that nobody takes them seriously because they're more concerned with money and reputation than helping people with serious mental illness.

* [[Mad Men|Dr Faye Miller]] is not that kind of doctor, but her father has a heart condition so she knows the symptoms.

* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' has most of the main and recurring characters have Doctorates in ''physics'', with others in microbiology and neurobiology. The character Howard has a Masters in Engineering, which leads to plenty of jokes at his expense for ''not'' being a doctor. Of course there are a few occassions where people mistake their title as being medical doctors "A doctor doctor or a ''you'' kind of doctor?"

{{quote|'''Troy:''' Why is she teaching Spanish? Go cure something!}}

{{quote|'''Rory:''' ''(after watching her curb-stomp homicidal aliens)'' So...what kind of doctor are you?

'''River:''' Archaeology. ''(shoots the last one standing without looking)'' Love a tomb. }}

** Dr. Rana Thanoptis ([[Mind Control|neuroscience]])

** Dr. Saleon ([[Playing with Syringes|genetics]], possibly transplant medicine - but then he was a [[Mad Scientist]] anyway)

** Dr. Okeer ([[Designer Babies|genetics]])

*** One of these creates an odd inversion of [[Not That Kind of Doctor]]. During {{spoiler|the suicide mission, Mordin is a candidate for the Tech Specialist position. Try to use him in that regard, however, and he's guaranteed to die.}} ''I'm a doctor, not a {{spoiler|hacker}}''.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* "Doc" from ''[[The Whiteboard]]'' isn't actually one, in spite of his nickname, [http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb380.html but it beats having the ER staff laugh at you again].

{{quote|'''[[Supreme Chef|Chvo]][[Lethal Chef|rth'q]]:''' I think we're gonna need more salt.}}

* ''[[Chainsawsuit]]'': [http://chainsawsuit.com/2009/11/06/strip-324/ Tucker Cogburn] is the wrong kind of doctor.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** The demand is not that unusual in Germany, where titles are given much more respect than North America. Also, physicians in general are typically referred to as "Ärzt" instead of "Doktor", so the title doesn't quite have the same connotations as in English.

*** People with two doctorates may demand to be addressed as Doctor Doctor X (although it's kind of cumbersome and no one actually ever does so). People with a Professorate and a separate Doctorate generally ''will'' be addressed as Professor Doctor, though not usually in everyday conversation.

** On the other hand, some teachers with a doctorate or professor's degree at some universities and schools don't insist on being called "Professor/Dr. (name)", and even discourage it in many cases. At many other colleges and universities, however, "Doctor So-and-so" or "Professor So-and-so" is the established way for a student to address their doctorate-holding instructor, and to do otherwise would come across as, at worst, very rude.

** Is he [[Small Name, Big Ego|claiming]] [[Blatant Lies|to be a genius]] in that field, too?

* The [[Armchair Psychology|radio talk therapist]] Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a doctor of physiology, not psychiatry. Not false advertising exactly (she's perfectly entitled to put Dr. before her name), but misleading.

* Aversion: ''Every'' university graduate in Italy is referred to as "Dottore" or "Dottoressa." Unless, that is, they have some more prestigious title, such as "Avvocato" (lawyer) or even better, "Ingegnere" (engineer.)

*** All U.S. law schools award the J.D. as the first professional degree in law, while the Master of Law (LL.M.) is an advanced degree in certain specialized areas of law (most commonly taxation). Law schools in other [[The Common Law|common law]] jurisdictions (e.g., the UK, Canada, Australia) award the Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) as the first professional degree. In the UK at least, it is possible to get an LL.M. one year after completing the LL.B. and ''before'' (or even ''without'') attending law school itself.

** Of course, this is very specific to the respective jurisdictions. In others, the legal system may be completely different. For example, in the german-speaking part of Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), there is no law school as in the U.S., but legal studies are a "normal" course of studies at university: first you get a Bachelor of Arts degree, afterwards a Master of Arts degree. Then you may or may not become a doctorate student, which will give you simply a [[PHD]] in Law; the important part is taking the Advocate exam (which you can do as soon as you have a MA degree). If you pass the exam, you get the title "RA" or "Rechtsanwalt" (literally "Lawyer"), so it is common for lawyers to use two titles: "RA Dr. [[Mc Cool Name]]" - which would translate roughly to "G. [[Mc Cool Name]], [[PHD]], JD".

*** One imagines that he has an uncomfortable time at medical and legal conventions, given the lawyer jokes and doctor jokes that tend to fly at such events.

** Madalyn Murray O'Hair actually was commonly referred to as "Dr. O'Hair" in American Atheist publications, though technically she earned a L.L.B which was [http://books.google.com/books?id=PitAMz7VfKAC&pg=PA29&dq=South+Texas+College+of+Law&hl=en&ei=Y3PATLGlM4W0sAO3wIXYCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false later converted] when all first professional law degrees in the US were automatically changed to JDs. (However, her school wasn't ABA approved so she couldn't sit for the bar exam.) Though in an inversion, she most likely was hoping to be mistaken for "not that kind of doctor", because despite her public legal battles earlier in her life, her articles by this point tended to delve into history, and obviously a Ph.D., especially if it was assumed to be in some kind of study of history as would be assumed for a doctor writing papers on history without mentioning otherwise, would add far more credibility to her many less than mainstream views (and because, as previously mentioned, no lawyer without a M.D. or Ph.D. refers to themselves as a doctor in the first place, so gaining legal credibility wouldn't make sense unless she hoped to be mistaken for a Doctor of Juridical Science, who do refer to themselves as "doctor").

* Despite his claims to the contrary, creationist Kent "Dr. Dino" Hovind does not hold a valid doctorate. He bought his "degree" from a non-accredited "university" where he [[Did Not Do the Research]].

* Dr Pepper and its knockoffs (of course)

* Dr. Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki ([[Some Call Me... Tim|usually called Dr. Karl]]), ig Nobel Laureate and science guy, has not done a PhD. He has a lot of degrees, but he's "Dr." because of a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.

* Dr. Hunter S. Thompson received an honorary doctorate from the Universal Life Church in the late sixties. Not sure what for, but he liked calling himself a "doctor of journalism" and having people referring to him as such.