You are really caught up in the government making laws, really a federal law to protect a title?
In this context, yes. The public is not educated enough to make the difference. For them, doctor = medical school = physician. They have no idea about the differences between titles; heck, most don't know what "attending physician" means.
There should be a law or a about all these healthcare titles, to clear up all these muddy waters. We are using titles very liberally in this country. Doctor of nursing != physician. All people know is that "doctor" means medical school, so they assume that anybody using the title Doctor is an MD/DO or equivalent. 4 (6 in my case) years of medical school cannot be compared to 4-6 even 10 of nursing. It's like comparing Major League Baseball with Minor League.
My wonderful acacademic hospital's walls are full of posters advertising a conference by whatever chief of bull**** APRN, PhD in nursing, from another hospital, presenting her as Dr. X. You actually have to read through the stuff to figure out she's a nurse. It's just disgusting what's going on, and nurses won't stop until we have a law in place to prevent these abusive behaviors.
It's completely naive to believe that we can change these behaviors through hospital policies, one hospital at a time, when most hospitals are run by nurses in an overwhelming percentage. It's like pleading for capitalism in the Workers' Party.
I have no problems in allowing other types of independent healthcare providers in the market, and having to compete with them. I just can't stand deceptive advertising. If you are a ****ing chiropractor, don't call yourself Doctor. If you have a PhD (especially one that anybody could get in 1-2 years of part-time study), don't call yourself Doctor in a healthcare setting. Once again, **** AMA, because this is their job (not just sending me crappy invoices every month).
P.S. The experienced but stupid PACU PCT seemed not to know today that I was a physician. When my patient's relative asked which of us is a nurse and which is a doctor, she explained that she was a PCT and I was an anesthesiologist (hence not a doctor in her eyes).