Why It's B.S.:
First of all, an increasing number of nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists, and other non-physicians are going back to school for an extra year just to be able to call themselves "Dr." and get that extra air of authority. Various health-related jobs now require doctorates in an effort to get more credibility, bypass MDs, and ultimately make more money. Which is fine, but if you're at the hospital and a white coat-wearing employee introduces themselves as Dr. [name], there's a chance they're not actually a physician.
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"What? Oh, no, I'm a doctor of janitorial arts. Anyway, you're a eunuch now."
But then there are the shady types who take advantage of the fact that there aren't tons of regulations restricting when you can call yourself "Dr." in public, which we're assuming is how Dr. Dre gets away with it. Unfortunately, more and more people are jumping on the doc train to riches, fame, and borderline malpractice. Oprah's buddy Dr. Phil regularly talks about weight loss and promotes diets ... despite having a Ph.D. in psychology, not a doctorate in medicine.
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Now that you mention it, we don't know either.
Talk radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger did the opposite -- she became a star in the 1990s giving relationship advice as "Dr. Laura," when her degree was in physiology (her doctoral thesis was on the effect of insulin on laboratory rats). Then you have people like celeb "doctor" Gillian McKeith, whose degree is from an unaccredited university.
The point is, in each case people have realized "Dr." is a shortcut to instant credibility -- even though their knowledge may be in a completely different field, if it exists at all. Don't be afraid to question them on that shit.
Dr. Rachel, Esq., is the writer of this article. Follow her on Twitter!
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