Crap... only got through the first page before I hit quote instead of multi.... and I can't be bothered to fix it
😀
It will never happen. The administrators at the AOA will burn the institution to the ground before they destroy their pointless, overpaid jobs.
This is a true statement
They already merged their GME accreditation with the ACGME.
The ACGME acquired their GME. They didn't merge. I know it is nitpicky, but as law mentioned earlier, we are not talking about equals here. The AOA became (will become) a seated member of the ACGME, in the same capacity that the AMA and AHA are members. This wasn't a "hey let's do this together" sort of thing. The term subsidiary is more appropriate than partner.
yes they should be merged. Giving DO physicians a different degree when they study exactly the same content as MD students is ridiculous.
I disagree with you. NDs claim to study the same things as well. Just as DO schools are not accredited by the same people as MD schools, neither are NDs. Should NDs be able to call themselves MD or DO on a whim just because they claim equal studying? Now, I do believe that DOs study the same material and to largely the same degree. However, you are looking from the outside inward. DO is a separate entity. It doesn't matter what they teach or how they teach it in relation to MD. It is a separate tract that is overseen by a separate entity. It isn't ok to simply establish your own group, claim equivalency, and then steal the title. Parallels could be drawn up to patent infringement. Whether the final "product" is inferior, superior, or equal isnt the point. It isnt the same because it isnt begotten in the same way. If DOs want to be MDs they need to go through the same pathways, and this will mean turning over school accreditation power. At this point, refer to vitios's post.
I see where your head is at. So everyone gets the MD, but the school can tailor its mission statement towards osteopathic medicine. Yes?
I honestly think this is a good idea and should be the norm. Regardless of the roots of osteopathy, it currently stands as an alternative route into medicine and is very often a second chance sort of deal. Unified accreditation is important, IMO, and will improve patient care in the long run. It isnt that osteopathic accreditation is sub-par by any means, it is just that having many redundant bodies attempting to do the same thing is inefficient. MD vs DO is almost becoming the Mac vs PC debate (of which PC is clearly superior, btw
😀 ) but the two are becoming largely indistinguishable except one group refuses to lose the gimmicks and the other group is finding itself more and more forced to employ gimmicks to appease an ignorant client base (talking about the computers, regardless of how that may have been received

)
historical differences are irrelevant, at the time of conception of the DO path they were both quacks.
That may be true. But this does not represent a valid argument in favor of uniting the degrees. It does not make sense for group 1 to award its degree to group 2 without also overseeing the education of group 2.