* * Anonymous Doc

Monday, May 24, 2010

"When was the last time you saw a doctor?"

"Oh, just recently, when I got some Tylenol."

"Why did the doctor tell you to take Tylenol?"

"No, he didn't tell me to take it. I asked him where it was, and he showed me."

"You went to a doctor's office, and a doctor examined you?"

"No, you asked me when I saw a doctor, and I'm telling you."

"What kind of a doctor did you see?"

"The doctor who worked at the drug store."

"Do you mean the pharmacist?"

"I don't know."

"The doctor examined you?"

"No! I keep telling you. The doctor told me where the Tylenol was."

"I think you're talking about a pharmacist. That's not a doctor."

"Well how am I supposed to know?"

"Doctors don't work in the drug store."

"Then he shouldn't be wearing a white coat and pretending he's a doctor."

4 comments:

  1. Great story. Actually, the pharmacists who work in the clinical research departments of drug companies mascarade as "doctors" all the time. I think it's ridiculous. The ones who are Pharm D's I suppose can legitimately call themselves "Dr." but they are knowingly taking advantage of people who don't know the difference which isn't right. --Miss__Tina

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  2. Maybe you should have asked the last time he saw a "physician". Physician's don't have a monopoly on the title "doctor" (or on white coats), regardless of what the commenters in this thread may think.

    @Yossi - I seriously doubt that a pharmacist at CVS was pretending to be a doctor.

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  3. Yes but -
    The patient had a specific question, and the 'doctor' guy was able to answer it.

    Seriously, I think you need to be more specific than 'when did you see a doctor'. Something more like 'When did you last have a medical examination' might have been a more useful question.

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  4. Ian is right, if the pharmacist has a PharmD he is a doctor. An english professor at the local university is a doctor. Your faulty generalizations don't extend to the rest of the world.

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