D.o./m.d.

[beachbum]

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SINCE I HAVENT HAD ANY ANSWERS FROM MY PREVIOUS QUESTIONS, MAYBE THIS TIME SOMEONE COULD HELP ME WITH THIS ONE. I WAS TALKING TO MED STUDENT FREIND OF MINE AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE MET A DOCTOR WITH A DUAL DEGREE D.O./M.D. IS THIS POSSIBLE? DOES IT INVOLVE 4 MORE YEARS OF ALLOPATHIC MED SCHOOL?

SURF IS DOWN "FOR NOW"

 

[npdoc28]

If you are in California then you may very well see a few DO/MD's. In 1961, the California AMA won legislation that made all DO's into MD's. Just like that, if you were a practicing DO, you then became MD. However, no new DO's were allowed to be licensed in the state of California, and the California college of Osteopathy and Surgery became UC irvine college of Medicine, and the osteopathic hospitals in southern california became allopathic institutions. Most DO's took the MD. They basically had to in order to survive and support their families. They would no longer be payed by insurance companies unless they took the MD. California thought that this would take off like a wildfire across the U.S., and all states would follow their lead and make all DO's into MD'S. However, it just galvanized the osteopathic profession. It basically showed the country the equivalence in the two professions. The U.S. military then started treating DO's equal to MD's as doctors in the military, and the profession started to gain more respect. The legislation held until the mid 70's in California until DO's and MD/DO's got the legislation over-turned, and not long after that College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (now apart of Western University of Health Sciences) was founded and new DO's have been licensed ever since, and have had equal practice rights to MD's ever since. Many of those DO/MD's are still practicing today. There's more to the story than that, but I just thought I would just give you a short version. As far as I know, there are no schools that offer a dual degree.

 

[Doctor Peloncito]

Many people (unfortunately) go and spend boku bucks at UHSA (University of Health Sciences Antigua) to buy a "MD" degree. The doc your friend was talking about could have gone this route.

 

[DrIgor]

It is sometimes the case that a foreign physician immigrates to the United States and is granted an MD w/o the right to practice. Since American boards are so radically different from foreign boards, this person then can go to an Osteopathic school and receive a DO degree. And use this as a preparation for the boards. One of my teachers has gone that route.

Igor

 

[Dr. MAXY]

Originally posted by DrIgor
It is sometimes the case that a foreign physician immigrates to the United States and is granted an MD w/o the right to practice. Since American boards are so radically different from foreign boards, this person then can go to an Osteopathic school and receive a DO degree. And use this as a preparation for the boards. One of my teachers has gone that route.

Igor

Actually, one of my classmate is an MD from a foriegn country and now in a DO program.

 

[Molly Maquire]

Hi,

Graduates of NYCOM's APEP program (I think it stands for Accelerated Program for Emigre Physicians, or something like that) will have the MD/DO degree.

In this program, foreign trained MDs complete the first two years at NYCOM (excluding labs) and one year of clinical clerkships to graduate with a DO degree in a total of three years. About 40 students per year go through this program.

 

[DrIgor]

Here's an interesting thought.

In order for a person to receive his MD, he would need to take the MCAT, pass certain med. school classes (path, pharm, biochem, etc.), then take the USMLE (3 steps) and he has his degree.

What if a person matriculates to a DO school, takes his MCAT to get in, passes the same science classes, and takes all 3 steps of USMLE in addition to COMLEX? Theorectically his has fulfilled all of his MD requirements and should by all right be considered an DO/MD.

Let's take this a little further.

If this became true then pretty soon MD schools would have to offer OMT training and would have to prepare their students for the COMLEX, since they now have to compete with DO/MDs.

After a while, most school will be putting out DO/MDs. And then there will be absolutely no difference between the allopathic and osteopathic schools. The two degrees will combine into a single OMD (osteopathic medical doctor) and we would all live in perfect harmony.

That's a little fiction for you. Now back to reality. 😉

Igor.

 

[docmartin]

As I understand it, you can only be licensed to practice medicine as an MD (hence taking all three steps of USMLE) or a DO (taking all three steps of COMLEX), not both. I am not sure about the IMG/DO/MD thing.

FYI-Competitive allopathic residencies can require/ask a DO to take all 3 steps of USMLE (in addition to his/her 3 steps of COMLEX) just to see if they are competitive w/ their allopathic counterparts, but the DO still remains licensed under COMLEX (assuming they pass COMLEX).

Or in most cases, the DO student takes USMLE Step 1 to meet the residency requirement and that maybe enough...

Just some useful info I just found out myself.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Hold on there. It's not that simple to be both an M.D. and a D.O.

Firstly, those DOs who graduate in an AOA-accredited school who then enroll in that MD diploma mill in Antigua cannot refer to themselves as MD/DOs. This comes down to an issue of licensure. Those MDs from Antigua do not qualify for licensure, and thus the physician in practice is licensed as a DO and cannot, by any means, be an MD. This would be fraudulent and illegal, as in punishiable by fine and revokation of licensure to practice medicine.

Secondly, graduates of the NYCOM APEP program are DOs and NOT MDs. I understand the fact that they were MDs in various foreign nations, but if they enroll in the NYCOM APEP program for the purposes of practicing medicine in the United States, they will graduate with a DO and cannot legally refer to themselves as MD/DO. This goes for DOs who went to Ross or St. George's, graduated with an MD, but never obtained licensure as an MD.

There have been numerous cases in New York State where AOA-trained DOs who obtained MDs from legitimate and non-legitimate medical schools overseas have been fined and had their licenses suspended for fraud and misrepresentation. The Office of Professional Misconduct (OPMC) has logged several cases of this, and I have personally read the brief for case against a DO in New York State who obtained an MD from an off-shore diploma mill. He was subsequently found guilty, had his license suspended for a long time, placed on probation, and fined heavily.

The ONLY way DO/MDs can exist legally is, as was mentioned, the California merger of the 1960s (in which the MD would be from and only from the "California College of Medicine") OR if there is a DO or MD graduate who decided to go through the requirements of the other program to obtain licensure.

 

[Molly Maquire]

Tim,

I might be wrong, but I thought that a medical degree was separate from a medical license. In other words, if you graduate from an accredited medical school, but then are either unwilling or unable to obtain a license to practice, you could still use the letters after your name, you just could'nt function as a physician.

When I worked on Wall Street, we had an analyst who graduated from a US med school but never completed residency (I don't think he even did an internship) and he used the letters MD after his name.

 

[oceandocDO]

I think Molly's right. Licensure and degree status are two different things. From my knowledge you can use the letters MD or DO after your name, but you cant practice medicine or prescribe medication without a license. Alot of the TV news docs do this... ie, they never completed an internship or residency to to get licensed, but they still use the degree.