04/19/2024
Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.’s) come from a unique background and philosophy. They also spent over a century proving that they are as competent as allopathic doctors (M.D.’s) so that we can all maintain a license as a physician. The result after all this time, is that D.O.’s have become clones of M.D.’s.
What’s interesting is that Naturopathic Doctors (N.D.’s) silently on the side, are basically embodying the philosophical approach to medicine that D.O.’s claim in their branding. They learn about health and how to promote its mechanisms, including with manual medicine and drugs that they can prescribe to a certain level. They encounter pushback on those prescriptions despite their doctorate level of training, well bc you’re not a “real” doctor, or a physician.
That’s what D.O.’s have worked so hard to avoid. And now they are indistinguishable from M.D.’s. You have probably had a doctor you didn’t realize was a D.O. bc they are just your cardiologist. That’s great in a way bc you know your D.O. doctor is trained the same as an M.D. would be.
But herein lies the problem. What then is the point of D.O.’s existing? That’s why the American Osteopathic Association is trying so hard to brand the profession. But it all comes across as us being “better versions of M.D.’s” when that wasn’t supposed to be the point at all.
Osteopathy is thriving outside of the United States where osteopaths are not fully trained as physicians. The D.O.’s who practice osteopathy in the United States claim their physician level of training makes them better practitioners. And I believe it does, but it came at the expense of the vast majority of our colleagues being clones of M.D.’s.
I hope that someone can in fact prove me wrong.
