By her exalted usage, it made me more aware of the use of the word in our society. Especially in commercials. Think about it. Practically every prescription drug advertised has the word "doctor" in it, as if that officially legitimizes the drug and makes it a miracle worker. The drug would be totally useless without the sanction of "doctor."
Of course, the ultimate usage of the saintly word was, "My doctor said 'Mylanta.'" Now you can't raise the bar higher than that.
I first became skeptical of the "Power of Doctorhood" when I was in college. I woke up one day and couldn't breathe. I was huffing and puffing as fast as I could and I felt like I was suffocating. I went to the "doctor" to be cured. I mean, really, I can't breathe so fix it!
I loved his response to my woes. He said "Well, it appears to be an atypical pneumonia, so take this medication. If it's bacterial this will work, if it's viral it won't. Don't go to school for a week." Wait a minute. That's it? I'm sick, barely sucking in air, and you're by guessing and by gollying? Wow.
That certainly cured me of the "Doctors work miracles" mentality. They're just like you and me, throwing out SWAGs (Sophisticated Wild Ass Guess).
An excellent point about doctors not being omnipotent is Catherine Zeta Jones being "furious" that Michael Douglas didn't get an accurate diagnosis for months regarding his stage four throat cancer. Meaning they could have caught it before it went to stage four and had an even greater chance of eliminating it.
According to the article,
"It makes me furious they didn't detect it earlier," Zeta-Jones told People. "He sought every option and nothing was found."Of course, I like the thought that the person who placed last in medical school is still called doctor. That sort of brings it down to earth doesn't it?
