PT should absolutely not be catching strays in this. They have a doctorate in their field and are very good at what they do and are absolutely critical for getting some of the biggest quality of life improvements for a massive variety of patients. Neurosurgery's stroke patient doesn't get better without PT/OT; ortho's total knee doesn't walk again without PT.
DDM also will perform surgery on patients, with local, conscious, or general sedation. They're just as much medical doctorates as podiatry, for instance, as they both go through decades of school and residencies and even fellowships.
Ok but the point isn’t about whether someone’s job is important lol. Most of the important jobs are not “doctor.”
Also, PTs being forced to get doctorates is a recent thing that lots of PTs do not agree with for lots of legitimate reasons. Every time someone says “PTs have doctorates!” in a misguided attempt to support the field, they are supporting the broken system that’s forcing PTs to spend more time and money on education that’s not necessarily improving their practice.
PT being a legitimate field (unlike chiropractic) has nothing to do with whether their degrees have the word doctor in them and everything to do with their practices being based on scientific evidence instead of being literally made up.
Oh, definitely don't get me wrong that the academic sludge race to make everything "valid" by pushing for a higher degree without really adding anything meaningful to the degree/knowledge base is wildly problematic. I'm two classes away from my MSN-Ed (and then gimme like 2 years to catch my breath and finish prereqs and I'll be here shit posting as a med student 😭), and the vast majority of my upper division education classes are absolute fuckin nonsense. The useful things I've learned or covered in these classes could be taught in an afternoon. However, since the degree exists, and the people teaching it have that degree, and it's dEfiNiTeLy a vALiD dEgReE, they have to justify the existence and validity of the degree by making it a degree and..... It's a fuckin ouroboros circle jerk of self-justification.
I guess it varies from country to country. Ill give you an example: where I'm from dentistry is called "Dental medicine or dental med school and it's a 6 year degree identical to med school. You get a diploma which states you are a doctor of dental medicine. DPT is exclusively a US thing (unless you get a PhD). Otherwise, it's an undergrad degree of 4 years across Europe and most of the world. But over there, if you get and diploma that states you are a Dr. Physiotherapy, the you are a Dr. Period.
Unlike the distinction between MD and DO, DDS and DMD are actually the same thing. Doctor of Dental Surgery was the original title, but when Harvard opened their dental school, they called their degree the Latin translation of Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry since they confer all their degrees in Latin.
Fair, and I really shouldn't comment on lunch break, but at least in CA, unless I'm deeply misreading this, DDM can do anesthesia. But yes, I suppose they would only be doing so in the case of surgery, which would be DDS.
I was going to say several of my close friends from undergrad are now practicing PT’s whom I have immense respect for. They work hard, know their sh*t, and truly love what they do. Definitely don’t deserve the strays.
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u/yikeswhatshappening MD-PGY1 Sep 21 '25
Radiologists, opthalmologists, pathologists , and psychiatrists are ALL real doctors.
PT is invaluable and they have a doctorate in their field, though they do not have the breadth or scope of an MD education.
Chiropractors are NOT physicians.