In non-Western cultures, especially in Asian countries, medical doctors are highly esteemed and treated with almost a divine status. Everyone wants their kid to be one. The amount of respect, trust, and fawning I’ve seen for them just doesn’t compare, maybe the only exception is a veteran. I realize people are not a monolith but sort of curious what some Americans think when they meet someone who is a medical doctor. Are they treated with the same reverence?
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I wouldn’t say ‘reverence’. However, Medical Doctor is one of, if not the, most respected professions in the country.
Divine status seems excessive, but they are regarded highly in America.
It’s highly culture and background dependent.
My parents grew up white trash and being a doctor was never really discussed. I wouldn’t say there was any fawning over them either. I’m assuming because it was so unobtainable to my family for so long that the concept of pursuing medical school or holding doctors in high esteem didn’t really exist. Sure, they are respected and it’d be great to be one, but the thought never crossed my, nor my parents, minds.
My father would likely consider engineering as a respectable field, as he has worked for years in technical jobs, both blue and white collar. I myself attended a technical school, but hated it haha.
It is really a coin toss to be fair. Especially for women. So many dr’s downplay our issues to being overly dramatic. or that weight loss solves whatever is wrong with you.
I think in general we hold them in high regard until they mess up, then the crowd demands their license gets revoked.
they are highly regarded in America. its one of the few professions you constantly have to update your knowledge on as med-sci is an ever evolving field that requires constant care in knowing what the best way to go about a procedure is.
As such they require great amount of time in college, great amounts of time out of college whenever they need to update/learn something new, and great amounts of time actually performing their jobs. As such they are paid well.
Many want to be them but the idea of expecting your child to be something they may not want to be is frowned upon in america generally speaking. You should be allowed to do as you please and pursue what makes you happy. Thats the idea anyway.
Nobody becomes a doctor by accident. It requires intelligence and hard work. They’re respected here.
But divine? Hardly.
Respected generally, also generally seen as assholes
It’s a job.
Doctors are very respected, but I wouldn’t say they get divine reverence. Only celebrities get that level of adoration in America.
A little unrelated, but back when I was in high school, I was invited to a Young Doctors of America thing. You had to be nominated to be there. Given that I never told anyone I wanted to be a doctor, I didn’t know how or why I was there. A few days ago, I was talking to my mom about it and she said she was the one who nominated me. She got my teachers and people in the neighborhood to sign, saying they also think I should be a part of the Young Doctors thing. I think the best part about being an adult is finding out about all the little unsaid thing in your life.
I would say doctors are highly esteemed throughout the country. It’s difficult to become one and I think we value most jobs that takes determination.
My wife is a nurse. She says her job is to stop the doctors from killing the patients. The doctors will often make mistakes and prescribe medication patients are allergic to or that will react with other medications they’re taking. Doctors are just people who spent a long time in school and have giant egos. Many would rather a patient die than admit they were wrong.
You don’t get like, special treatment or anything like that for being a doctor. But it’s a respected and well payed career.
They’re great and pillars in our society. We think that Asians’ expectations for their kids to be doctors is really toxic and feel bad for kids who are stressed out and suicidal because they risk being disowned by their parents.
I can’t remotely say that even HALF of the utterly dying people who came to my ER (A&E) were remotely respectful – on the civilian side. I can’t begin to say the number of times I was lied to, or people just sought drugs.
Military side, as a flight surgeon I was worshipped.
They are people I pay for a service
I don’t see them as divine or superhuman
Very well respected, for the most part. You saw some of the other side of that “most part” during the pandemic when political extremists decided that doctors were lying about vaccines and masks and what not and then the opinion of some nut on Facebook carried the same weight as a highly trained expert in epidemiology.
It’s very well respected and extremely well compensated. Doctors make more money here than doctors anywhere else on earth.
As someone who sees a literal brigade of doctors (four specialists, to be specific), I view them as overworked, and terrifyingly powerless in the face of government stupidity. It’s taken less than one year for politicians to make healthcare inexplicably worse in a country that was already dead last in healthcare access.
People are dying. Mark my words, it’ll get worse.
There’s some I like. Some I don’t.
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But I’ve heard some people refer to doctors as “pill-pushing quacks.” Some people have a deep distrust of doctors. They’re expensive. They’re rude. They’re know-it-alls with no compassion or people skills.
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There’s lots of people who will try everything they can before going to a doctor. DiY, home remedy, chewing on tree bark and bees wax. Prayer! Meditation. Hypnosis. Idk.
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Funnily enough it often seems to be people who WORK in the medical field who refuse to go to the doctor. I’ve known a few of those stubborn people too.
Divine? No. It’s literally a job. Respected? Sure.
Anyone who says they’re respected do not work in the medical field.
As an MD, no, not even close. Anyone who says otherwise is thinking of an outdated attitude. In the 90s, probably yes. Now? No no no no no
Edit: I said this in another post, but there are two kinds of hate the medical profession gets. One of it is warranted— it stems from all the incompetency and holier than thou attitudes a lot of physicians give towards patients. Either not listening to them, or making a terrible medical error (try asking my girlfriend who died at 28 due to medical incompetency). I went to a top tier medical school and a residency program at a hospital that likely has a relative degree of “name brand” recognition (hint: it’s the hospital to the stars) and trust me I’ve witnessed ALOT of bullshit and the biggest lesson I’ve learned in my school and training is that prevention is number one because I sure as hell don’t want to end up in a hospital at the hands of some of these people
On the other hand, you have the hate that comes from the anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-“authority” crowd
So mix those together and you don’t have a well respected profession
I don’t hold anyone in that kind of esteem before they’ve earned it. There are doctors that have absolutely earned it and others that make me question how they ever made it through.
This is very much dependent on who you ask. Ask any antivaxxer, and they’ll tell you all doctors are poison-shilling sh1theads on “Big Pharma’s” payroll. Any other reasonable person will likely tell you that being a doctor is a respected and trusted profession.
Respected, all the other descriptions are a bit over the top
People are very disillusioned by the medical system here and I think its slowly begun to transfer into the perception of doctors. I can say personally that after mowing some doctors’ massive houses, as the people who see them struggle to even afford necessary services and medicine, I had zero respect from then on.
In my experience most of doctors that work with my wife at her hospital seem smart but are completely socially inept or assholes, sometimes both.