Doctors in the Family
We’ve been re-watching that old series from the 1990s, Northern Exposure, where an urbane, young New York doctor finds himself stuck in small-town Alaska. It’s a classic fish-out-of-water story but with many twists and turns along the way as our expectations of the town and local people are confounded by surprises and moments of magic realism. I loved it when it first came out and I’ve been delighted to see that it has stood the test of time very well and still has us laughing out loud.
The one refrain of the hapless young protagonist, Joel Fleischman, is that he is the perfect catch for any girl in New York - he is a Jewish doctor from a good university and in his prime - and here he is stuck in the sticks where there are no women who appreciate his qualities. What is it about doctors that make them such a desired species in Jewish culture?
It’s like Chinese families - they have the same awe for doctors, too. Most sons get pushed into being doctors - and many daughters too. In my family, both my grandfathers were doctors and a number of uncles and aunts on both sides are doctors. There are lawyers, engineers, professors, too - but the pinnacle of ambition is being a doctor. What’s that all about?
I was under huge pressure to study medicine, notwithstanding that bodily fluids and signs of pain make me weak and wobbly. At school, we had to do an experiment about amino acids or something and the biology teacher and lab assistant had prepared for us beakers full of their saliva. I almost threw up on the spot. No way was I going to survive medical school - yet, for a time, I kidded myself - and my extended family - that I would study hard and get the science grades necessary to do a medical degree.
Well, that lasted all of five minutes.
I ended up reading English Lit before going to law school.
I am respected for being a lawyer, and a writer. But it’s not the same kind of awe that is reserved for doctors. For the Chinese, and also the Jewish community, having a doctor in the family is the ultimate achievement, it seems to me. It’s as much about the quality of the family as it is about the individual’s personal achievement - there is that sense of reflected glory that comes with being able to say, “My son is a doctor, you know.” And I have a sense it’s similar for Asian communities - I’m reminded of the Asian comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me where the two elderly Asian women sit and compete about their sons’ achievements. It seems to me these three communities value doctors much more highly than Anglo-Saxon communities. Why is that?
Is it about the healing magic? The money? The brains that it takes to get through medical school?
What’s your take on this cultural phenomenon?
Photo: thanks to happysnappr from flickr.com (CCL)
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Wed, March 26th, 2008 - Author
Yang-May Ooi - Category
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March 27th, 2008 at 12:07 am
It’s funny–in my small sampling of Indian culture, college professors get all the respect. My husband’s family wanted one doctor in the family as well, so they elected the youngest son. He had no interest or the right kind of talent for it. He’s now a businessman–that’s the new glamorous field.
My Canadian father was a pathologist, and his family barely noticed. At his graduation from medical school, his sister asked him, “Are you a real doctor, Mo?”
March 27th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Good for the youngest son that he followed his talent! Thanks, Cheryl, for the contrasting stories.
March 27th, 2008 at 3:39 am
It used to be that the drive to beooming a doctor is to save lives. But today, it seems that it’s more the allure of affluence that attends to the profession. But I am just a doctor of philosophy, and philosophising is something that I’m not too shabby at. Come to think of it, nobody is.
Anyway, I was reminded of an episode recounted by Randy Pausch while reprising his last lecture in the Oprah Winfey Show recently. He had just graduated with a PhD and his mother was proudly saying: My son is a doctor, just not the kind who treats people.
A recent interesting news here is that the majority of the medical students at a local university here choose to stay away from family practice (but instead becoming anaesthesiologist for one) because they want to have more time for the family.
March 27th, 2008 at 5:50 am
It made me laugh, what Say Lee recounted about Ray Pausch’s mom… I have a friend with a PhD and his mom says the same thing!
I guess it’s just the title that impresses … for not everyone can have the title of ‘Doctor’ (or so, our parents will have us believe), but I really don’t see the point of struggling so many years to achieve it only to put it aside and then finally something else one desires. Why not go after that true passion in the first place?
I’ve asked myself this question many times before, for I did not start with my passion but with something that seemed appropriate and ‘professional’ — now I no longer have regrets because the exposure did show me the world and made me more mature than I otherwise would be.
And how can one know one does not like something till one has tried it, eh? :)
March 27th, 2008 at 6:40 am
When I was younger I wanted to be a doctor. It is true with most children here. Being a doctor seemed a very noble and attractive job for most of us.
You might want to know about the Young Entrepreneur Society from the www.YoungEntrepreneurSociety.com. A great documentary about successful entrepreneurs.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Say Lee - yes, being a doctor of phlilosophy sounds very attractive, especially not having to deal with blood and guts!
Kenny - I hear that in the US, one can buy doctorates in the way that in the UK you can buy a lordship. You’d be able to tell people your title but there would be no real joy in having achieved it yourself.
Jonty - thanks for the interesting link.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Yes, there are degree mills here in US. It’s just like a business transaction, if there is demand, there will be supply.
I think a major reason why I went for graduate study is to prove to myself that I can do it, academically. The ability to secure financial sponsorship played a part too obviously.
Anyway those days choosing a profession was less a pull than push. Job counseling was unheard of. We just kind of floated along, following a sort of herd mentality. One can say my profession grows to become my passion rather than the other way round.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:07 am
“….. that in the UK you can buy a lordship.”
If I remember correctly what I came across very long ago in a student textbook, there’s the ‘lordship of the manor’ by outright purchase for money, usually of a small piece of land in feudal England but it does not entitle title holder to be styled a Lord - a Peer of the Realm. Leaving aside the Irish and Scottish peerages, the hereditary peerages of UK and the courtesy titles, life peerages of UK can ostensibly ALSO be acquired by way of valuable consideration in one form or another which subject was covered not too long ago in the British media as to certain wealthy individuals.
There was an ethnic Chinese who was created a Lord, a paediatrician by trade, for services to his local community in Liverpool. Lord Chan [1940- 2005],
formerly of Singapore.
The Malaysian equivalent of the UK Lord is, I believe, the Tun.
Quite a number of medical doctors in the English-speaking countries especially those in academia would take additionally the PhD [in a subject of their specialty]. They would probably also have taken fellowship/membership exams of appropriate professional body.
I understand as a matter of etiquette prefix Dr as to non-medics should generally not be used for mere social purposes or where its use has no possible relevance, but this rule is quite often ignored by many.
Length of PhD thesis/dissertation can range from as little as 55k words to 115k words depending on subject-matter, university and country [excluding those in North America, Australasia and certain other English-speaking countries that I know nothing about].
Yes, doctor [and surgeon] have an aura no member of any other learned profession has IMO.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Often a Ph.D./Sc.D would use that designation following the name in a name card rather than the prefix Dr. to avoid confusion. This is especially relevant when getting an air ticket lest one’s help is sought during a medical emergency in flight based on the flight manifest. That would add embarrassment to confusion. But I’m not sure about veterinarian though.
The other class of appellation that has created some controversy back home is the honorific designating honorary degrees. Word has it that some conveniently drop the Hon. A worse “offence” is appending bogus titles to the names. That makes one wonder, what’s in a name, or title for that matter?
March 30th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Say Lee/ YeeTon - perhaps you can help me this query. I understand how PHD and Dr etc fits into the university hierarchy, but what does a Fellow do?
March 30th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I think fellows are a class of membership grade usually in a professional society granted to members who have contributed extraoridinarily to advancing the profession.
In a university, I think they refer to an academic staff on temporary attachment (say, on a sabatical) to a particular institute within a university. Therefore, it is a loose designation (e.g., research fellow) with no tenure propects and is duration-limited. Of course those on such sojourns but sponsored by a fellowship fund are automatically addressed as fellows, much like scholars on Rhodes of FullBright.
I remember also way back in 1975 when I was a resident at the 3rd College in MU that the resident academic staff put in charge of the college was also called a fellow. That is, like a hostel warden of a school dorm, but at the college level.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:46 am
Thanks, Say Lee!
March 31st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
“I think fellows are a class of membership grade usually in a professional society granted to members who have contributed extraordinarily to advancing the profession”
* Physicians [FACP/FRCPC/FRACP/FRCP/FRCPE]
Probably true in much of what you say, Say Lee, but criteria seem a bit strict
or demanding IMO, more in keeping with a potential award of the FRS or FBA, the highest accolade in Britain, again IMO.
There is a brilliant doctor of a guy from my old school who passed exams to become MRCP but he never made it FRCP on checking with the RCP
that
advised me.
*Surgeons
However, it is my understanding as to surgeons, passing of the exams to qualify as a surgeon whether they be in the US, Canada, Australasia, London or Edinburgh would entitle to use of letters after their names, viz FACS, FRCSC,
FRACS, FRCS, FRCSE respectively. In other words, they become fellows on
mere passing of the requisite exams without having “…. contributed extraordinarily to advancing the profession.”
David Attenborough has an honorary ScD(Cantab) that he never ever alludes to
using. An absolute no, no to use prefix Dr for that.
I like the form of address an Oxford college used in a letter it sent to an alumnus, named changed, and not a prefix in sight.
“John Doe Esq, MA, BM BCh, DM, FRCP”
The DM [Oxon] or MD awarded elsewhere in Britain is a higher medical degree unlike the US MD that is a first or basic medical degree, I gather. World famous plague-fighter Wu Lien-Teh [a Queen’s Scholar of Penang Free School and latterly of Ipoh] had the MD(Cantab), was probably the first Malayan to be awarded a higher medical degree by the University of Cambridge.
* Esquires
Never quite or yet figure out why US attorneys, both male and female - certainly in the Empire state- are entitled to be called esquires, a term, I’d have thought more synonymous with Old World use such as in England where barristers are
esquires by office, I believe.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:31 am
I should qualify that my comments in regard to the fellow membership grade refer to engineering societies such as Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with which I’m familiar.
I have known about the fellow designation in the medical field from my visits to medical clinics and hospitals and have always wondered what these various titles prefixed by F mean. I’m thus enlightened. Thanks, YT.
I believe JD for attorneys in US works the same way as MD. While MD (or JD in law studies) may be the first basic medical degree in US, it is a post-baccalaureate academic pursuit much like graduate studies, I think.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:04 am
“While MD (or JD in law studies) may be the first basic medical degree in US, it is a post-baccalaureate academic pursuit much like graduate studies, I think.”
Spot on, much like an Oxbridge medical undergraduate would take a first degree in biological sciences or somesuch degree before commencing medical studies proper.
Thus Wu Lien-Teh’s designation would have been and was indeed MA(Cantab), MB BChir, MD.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:36 am
Thanks, Say Lee and Yeeton both, for navigating through this very complex area! I always get confused when I meet a surgeon and have to call them Mr as that seems more lowly than Dr.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
A doctor has merely passed the exams and put in the requisite time. A Surgeon has to prove he can cut up people relatively safely and is allowed to call himself ‘Mr’ (= the status of human being?). What title do women surgeons have?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Madame Surgeon?
April 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
*What Others Have Said in Blogs
John Briggs wrote:
Quote:
British surgeons are notorious for insisting on being called “Mr”, whilst ordinary medics insist on being called “Dr”.
My understanding (my wife is a nurse), is that this is a convention rather than any kind of insistence. Surgeons earn the title “Mr” when they reach consultant level. Physicians (medical) are always “Dr”.
Quote:
But what about female surgeons?
I believe female consultant surgeons use “Miss” or “Mrs” as appropriate.They could probably also choose “Ms” if they were so inclined.
Tony Mountfield