Reply To: Restricting the use of the title “Doctor”

[Jennifer]

Hi Susan!
I just read over AB-765. How interesting. The bill says that the public would get confused if anybody in healthcare used “doctor” other than medical doctors and doctors of osteopathy. It also makes it sound as though we are purposely misleading the public if we were to go by doctor as a DNP. I’m also shocked that if we did use “Dr.” before our name it would count as a misdemeanor under this bill. I don’t mind going by my first name as a nurse practitioner DNP but I don’t think it should be a law to make us not use this title. Our education is something that we worked hard for and it would be too bad if we didn’t have this option. I also think this is an important bill for pharmacists, physical therapists, and anybody else in the medical field with a doctorate. Looking at the bill now it looks like it has still not been passed. I think if we are honest with our patients and explain what our role is, then I don’t think this would be seen as misleading our patients. Thanks so much for posting about this bill! Good to learn about.