Premed pretending to be an MD

[Crake]

So I work in a surgical lab at a local hospital. I work for a resident who's doing a research fellowship.

There's this other guy that works in the lab as a tech (graduated from college, is in his second lag year), and he's on the phone trying to get access something and he actually say "This is Dr. [his last name], I'm a fellow working with Dr. [X] I need to get access to . . . " So I'm just typing away working on what I do, and the real fellow is right there next to me. So this guy gets off the phone, and she's turns around and says "You are not a fellow. Do not tell people that you're a fellow. You're not an MD or even a med student. YOU'RE A LAB TECH!" He just denied he said it and cooly walks out of the room. Naturally, the real fellow was a bit pissed off, as she should have been. Evidentally, this guy's been doing this for a while now; calling himself Dr. and passing himself off as a fellow. I think he's the pet of some attending so nobody can get rid of him. . . But how strange is that?

Oh yeah, this is one of those premeds who wears a white coat to work too. He must be insane or something, I can't figure it out. At any rate, he's been rejected for two cycles, from what I've heard, so adcoms must think he's a bit weird. But eventually, somebody's gonna take him. Can you imagine someone like that actually practicing medicine?

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[DrThom]

Urg.

Pre Meds drive me nuts...

 

[MWillie]

I hate premeds!

 

[on_the_fence]

scary.

The flip-side of this is the grandparents/parents who tell everyone they meet that their kid is in medical school. I can't tell you how many times I have had to correct my grandmother.

 

[Medikit]

I'd try to ignore it if you can, what he's doing isn't right but there's not a whole lot you can do about it other than reporting him.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Talk about self-absorbed...

 

[doc05]

not a huge deal if he's not introducing himself to patients that way. at large universities and hospitals, there's a ton of red tape. sometimes the only way to get the pencil-pushers to do anything is to call yourself "doctor," or name drop (eg your PI). I'm not condoning it, but it's not the end of the world either.

 

[eulogia228]

not a huge deal if he's not introducing himself to patients that way. at large universities and hospitals, there's a ton of red tape. sometimes the only way to get the pencil-pushers to do anything is to call yourself "doctor," or name drop (eg your PI). I'm not condoning it, but it's not the end of the world either.

The way you get around that stinky problem is by saying, "I'm calling on BEHALF of Dr. So and So..."

This tool is just passing himself off as a doctor to fulfill the pipe dream he may never get to realize if he keeps applying without improving his application. Applying past 2 application cycles without showing improvement in your app is just pointless because you're just asking for more rejection letters to come in and you're burning more $$ on applications. This kid has some serious issues. If it's commonplace for even postbaccalaureate and undergraduate assistants to wear white coats in the lab, then the white coat thing doesn't really bug me. But if he's the ONLY lab tech/research assistant wearing the white coat, that's pretty disturbing. This kid might have some identity issues to deal with, otherwise he'll continue to piss off real doctors.

 

[PostalWookie]

Ask a nurse to run up to him and scream "Doctor, there's a code and they need you!"

 

[ellia08]

creepy

 

[prana_md]

Not him ... your defense when you kill him. OMG I'd strangle him, I swear.

Although now I'm thinking ... I'm a clinical research assistant and I wear scrubs, and when I'm waiting for the train someone invariably comes up to me and asks me if I'm a nurse. I always lie and say I'm a med student, but not out of ego, just to avoid explaining the whole ****ing drama of applying to med school. I never thought about what would happen if someone keeled over right there on the platform ...

 

[A.D.O.R.]

Ask a nurse to run up to him and scream "Doctor, there's a code and they need you!"

The guy would probably love it.

If you guys want to read a non-fiction story about a creepier dude who actually got his M.D., check out "Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away with Murder" by James B. Stewart. The title may seem a little cheesy but it's a great book. A very quick read.

 

[10minutes]

Chase bank sent me a credit card application yesterday addressed to Dr. (my name) haha, some confusion here!?

 

[masterMood]

i wonder why the "white coat" is the object of recognition for doctors. I mean isn't white a bad color especially in medicine? The clothes get easily dirty, really bloody (pain in the ass to wash off), and they lose their natural whiteness.

I say we change them all to black coats, that way it would be much harder to see the stuff on the coat. But then again it could be interpreted that the doctor wearing black is the grim reaper

 

[DrOctopus]

i wonder why the "white coat" is the object of recognition for doctors. I mean isn't white a bad color especially in medicine? The clothes get easily dirty, really bloody (pain in the ass to wash off), and they lose their natural whiteness.

I say we change them all to black coats, that way it would be much harder to see the stuff on the coat. But then again it could be interpreted that the doctor wearing black is the grim reaper

White is traditionally the color of prestiege or power. It indicates you are high enough up in society that you don't have to worry about getting dirty (the wealthy) or, more so for doctors, you can afford to keep the white clean.

 

[samenewme]

... At any rate, he's been rejected for two cycles, from what I've heard, so adcoms must think he's a bit weird. But eventually, somebody's gonna take him. Can you imagine someone like that actually practicing medicine?

Nah, past two cycles adcoms look at you a lot more stringently before they even consent to interview you. A professional admissions consultant has told me that many med schools won't even consider a third application. Of course, they can't stop him from PLAYING doctor...

 

[njbmd]

So I work in a surgical lab at a local hospital. I work for a resident who's doing a research fellowship.

There's this other guy that works in the lab as a tech (graduated from college, is in his second lag year), and he's on the phone trying to get access something and he actually say "This is Dr. [his last name], I'm a fellow working with Dr. [X] I need to get access to . . . " So I'm just typing away working on what I do, and the real fellow is right there next to me. So this guy gets off the phone, and she's turns around and says "You are not a fellow. Do not tell people that you're a fellow. You're not an MD or even a med student. YOU'RE A LAB TECH!" He just denied he said it and cooly walks out of the room. Naturally, the real fellow was a bit pissed off, as she should have been. Evidentally, this guy's been doing this for a while now; calling himself Dr. and passing himself off as a fellow. I think he's the pet of some attending so nobody can get rid of him. . . But how strange is that?

Oh yeah, this is one of those premeds who wears a white coat to work too. He must be insane or something, I can't figure it out. At any rate, he's been rejected for two cycles, from what I've heard, so adcoms must think he's a bit weird. But eventually, somebody's gonna take him. Can you imagine someone like that actually practicing medicine?

Hey there,
This doesn't make much difference unless this person is practicing medicine without a license (illegal). Other than that, who cares? I am an MD-Ph.D and I don't have "Dr" on anything that I own. Even my patients address me by my christian name. It just doesn't matter.
njbmd 😎

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Gosh, sometimes I just *hate* premeds. You know the "type". For example, consider the following exchange:

girl: "today was so cool! I was in the ER and a woman came in with three aneurysms!"

me: "oh, i see. how old was she? do you think she'll live? did she have any kids?"

girl: "44... she'll probably die tomorrow. yeah her husband was there but was told he had to wait. kinda sucks for him. but I got to stick tubes into her stomach!!"

Gaaahhh.