When I give one of my major reasons for wanting DO rather than MD here on SDN, it turns into a dogpile of people telling me that I don't know what I am talking about. But, here it goes:
I have worked with many DO surgeons and anesthesiologists. They were, to a person, exceptionally warm, kind, and compassionate. They all had exquisite bedside manner and great interpersonal skills when interacting with patients, families, nurses, and other members of the healthcare team. I can't recall a time that I saw any of these doctors behave rudely in the OR, or shout/whine/cry/stamp their feet in order to get what they wanted. Not once. They all play well with others. I'd say that these doctors made up about 15-20% of the physicians with whom I interacted in the OR.
The MD surgeons and anesthesiologists... well, many of them were also nice people to work with and around. But a few weren't. Quite a few actually. Every problem that I've ever had with a surgeon throwing an actual tantrum, complete with jumping up and down and yelling, when they couldn't have a third room because they overbooked their two and they were in danger of being late to their social engagement.... Every thrown instrument.... Every case cancelled for a BS reason because the anesthesiologist wanted to get home before traffic got bad... Every act of profound selfishness, entitlement, and passive-aggression that I've witnessed in the OR has involved an MD.
Now, bear with me...
I'm not sure about cause and effect, nor am I saying that there aren't any raving jerk DOs out there. There may be some selection bias... maybe anti-DO sentiment meant that the DOs who were hired to work there were the absolute cream of the osteopathic crop. Nor do I think that all MDs are jerks. The overwhelming majority are not. But I'd say that as many as 10-15% of them were insufferable. They believed themselves better than everyone else, even their physician colleagues. (One of the worst and most conceited would actually tell patient's families that he was the best surgeon, of any kind, in the hospital. Like, with a straight face and all seriousness.)
I think that these folks are not entirely to blame. They worked really hard to get where they are. Unfortunately, they all seem to suffer from the Just World Fallacy. They believe that because they have achieved so much, they must deserve it all. That anyone who had made the same decisions that they did and put in the same amount of effort, would have accomplished the same thing, and so that anyone who isn't in their shoes must be some kind of screw up. One surgeon who is particularly obnoxious to work with was talking semi-pleasantly with me once. He was trying to figure out why I had once been homeless and staying in shelters for a few months during college. He assumed it had to have been the result of poor judgment somewhere along the line, since in his world, it just wasn't possible that someone who was clearly intelligent could run up against insurmountable problems. He literally couldn't imagine what it would be like to not have access to all the resources he has had to call upon. He often harshly judges patients and families for their misfortunes. It is like he is blind to the concept that everyone didn't get the same start in life that he did.
Anyhow. I don't know what it is that made the DOs less likely to be like that. Maybe it is something to do with the osteopathic medical schools, and the kinds of students they select, or the way that they teach, or... I really don't know. Maybe it is that MD schools are more likely to admit a few people who have never had to face real adversity and so never had the opportunity to develop the compassion it teaches. Maybe the people with the worst attitudes who think the most of themselves self-select out of applying DO because they would never lower themselves by accepting anything less than an MD. (I know a couple of people who headed to the Caribbean with exactly those words coming from their lips.)
So, I'm not saying that all MDs are jerks. And I don't really think that all DOs are enlightened superbeings. Just, these are trends that I have personally witnessed. I am not worried that an MD school will make me a jerk, or hoping that a DO school can help me overcome personality flaws. Rather, when I consider the people that I want to see in the seats beside me, with whom I want to form networks that will serve me for the rest of my career, I prefer the attitudes of the DOs that I've met.
Sorry to spend so many words on this, but it is one of my biggest reasons for choosing to apply only DO this cycle, and maybe DO plus MD next, if I hadn't been accepted. TL;DR -- I like the DOs I know and hope to be like them when I grow up.
