Actually both podiatrists and ophthalmologists attend medical school. Podiatrists in the US attend one of nine Podiatric Medical Schools and receive an education that is almost the same as an MD. And ophthalmologists attend an allopathic or osteopathic medical school sitting right next to future MDs and DOs. There is a wide diversity in the of pathways in different medical specialties in the way education is done. Whether the medical specialization is pre or post medical school varies based on the specialty. We keep confusing the terms. Someone with a doctorate, even a PhD is a “doctor” even if the doctorate is in frisbee. And even a chiropractor can earn a doctorate (although it isn’t required) and correctly call themselves a doctor. In some states you can even be licensed as a doctor to practice alternative medicine. You can get a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine by simply going to by simply going to an accredited naturopathic medical school. Yes, a “medical school.” “Real Doctor,” like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I was making the point that ophthalmologists are real doctors while optometrists are not as one attends medical school and one doesn’t-- apparently that got lost in translation. Yes, anyone with a phd is a “doctor” but we are taking about medicine here. Techically a lawyer also has a Juris Doctorate and if we want to stretch logic that far, they are also doctors.
I think you have a very good point there.
Let’s try this from a slightly different angle. How many times have you filed an (official ?) report against a doctor or other person in the medical profession. How did that work for you?
I think this whole “real doctors” thing is just a spitting contest. We have specialists for a reason. I chose an endo as a specialist for my diabetes because they have deep training. And a podiatrist has deeper training on conditions of the foot than a GP with and MD degree.
Absolutely agree. But a paramedic also probably has more training in how to intubate a patient and probably how to defibrillate and other aspects of emergency medicine than a GP MD. That makes them the right person for the job of responding to emergencies outside the hospital, but it doesn’t make them a doctor. Having watched family members and friends go through “real” medical school I have a great deal of respect and admiration for what they’ve achieved and nobody who hasn’t gets a pass from me when it comes to being called “doctor” in the medical field anyway.
What alarmed me about the “real doctors” thing was that @TimmyMac then
“That’s insane! I never knew that they weren’t “real” doctors. I’ll keep that in mind if this injury flares up again.”
A podiatrist is certainly an appropriate doctor to see when you have foot problems. I didn’t want readers of this topic to be led to believe that podiatrists aren’t doctors and that they are somehow “fakes.”
I’d like to add that I’ve received very competent foot care over many years from podiatrists. It started when I was a teenager with an infected ingrown toenail. That practitioner provided amazing relief to a situation that was acute and complicated. Unfortunately, my ingrown toenails recurred about once every five years in the decades since that first problem.
My diabetes diagnosis occurred in the mean time and I’ve now adopted the practice of seeing a podiatrist every 60 days. They inspect my feet and clip my nails. As I’ve aged and my eyesight is not as good, I value their ability to care for my feet and pre-empt situations from degrading to much a much more serious situation. With peripheral neuropathy and impaired circulation common to people with diabetes, I see regular foot care with a podiatrist as an important medical service.
Having said all that, there are many podiatrists in practice and there’s no need to put up with one that suffers from poor social skills.
They’re not fakes. But they are not medical doctors with a broad understanding of the complex physiology and disease processes of the entire body-- they are experts who have achieved “doctorate level” education regarding the structures and mechanics of feet and ankles. Obviously this one didn’t even know that steroids mess up blood sugars in diabetics. Yes a podiatrist is an excellent choice generally if you have a foot problem. This one, in this particular case, due to their lack of relatively basic other medical expertise, was not such a great choice.
From [Wiki][1]:
Podiatric residents rotate through core areas of medicine and surgery. They work alongside their MD and DO counterparts in such rotations as emergency medicine, internal medicine, infectious disease, behavioral medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, vascular surgery, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, dermatology and of course podiatric surgery and medicine
It is unfair to characterize their education as devoid of broad medical training. Maybe not deep, but not empty. My opinion is that even most GPs are just as likely to not know that steroids can mess with blood sugars.
[1]: Podiatrist - Wikipedia
Oh dear, irrational_John…you’re being irrational! Why get your knickers in a knot?
Firstly, the comment was directed at Timmy…secondly, it’s a suggestion; not a command.
Ultimately the decision is Timmy’s.
You guys bashing on podiatrists CLEARLY have never been to a topnotch podiatrist, I can assure you.
Not bashing on them at all. Just drawing an (appropriate, in my opinion) distinction between them and physicians.
Could have fooled me! And I wont’ bother repeating my previous comment, as it’s obvious that my assumption is true. Do any of you know that they perform intricate surgeries? they are ever bit as professional as other doctors, including surgeons.
Your assumption is true— and even if visiting the best podiatrist in the world had changed my life forever, they still wouldn’t be fully licensed physicians or have attended an actual medical school or be licensed to treat anything other than feet and ankles, unlike a “real” doctor.
try having a brain surgeon operate on your deformed foot, my friend, and tell me how THAT goes. My wife has worked with all sorts of surgeons for almost 2 decades so don’t think you know everything about this subject because I have seen her own results from foot surgery and I hear about surgeons on a daily basis, for 2 decades. You need to find a better podiatrist if you want to change your opinion., Otherwise it’s based on limited info.
It’s not limited info at all. If I needed foot surgery I would want a podiatrist to do it. That does not change any of the facts I’ve stated. They are not medical doctors. They are not fully licensed physicians. They are in most cases probably the best in the world at foot care and treatment. The facts I’ve stated are not disputable. They are facts, not my opinions. By the way my wife is assisting a podiatrist as we speak so it’s not as if I am unreasonably biased against them. They do a lot of people a great deal of good but they are not medical doctors or fully licensed physicians. Facts.
The difference being that “real doctors” became physicians first and then sought advanced specialties. Podiatrist ONLY specialized in foot/ankle. Thus they are not fully licensed physicians. A podiatrist can not prescribe you antidepressants or hormone replacement therapy or any other treatment besides foot/ ankle— but any fully licensed physician legally can, whether they chose to or not…
I don’t know why you see me stating these facts as bashing on podiatrists. I’m not bashing them at all.
I can’t even get my primary care to prescribe finasteride for me despite me having gotten it from her for years because now it’s a little bit difficult for her because they now require a prior authorization. doctors are going to prescribe only what the system lets them or what they feel comfortable with so it’s no different with podiatrist. They prescribe whatever it takes that deals with their specialty
But that doesn’t change the fact that he/she has the legal authority to prescribe whatever that is, because they are a fully licensed physician… Whether they chose to or not is an entirely different matter.
Whereas a podiatrist has the legal authority ONLY to treat feet and ankles. A brain surgeon could prescribe meds to treat your hemorrhoids(though they likely would chose not to) … A podiatrist can’t.
I just want to bang my head on the wall. A chiropractor is a physician. These are all fully licensed physicians. My head is bleeding.