In a query to Miss Manners, a physician expressed concern about being addressed by first names in medical settings despite using titles with their patients. Miss Manners clarified that etiquette dictates reciprocal respect regarding address titles. While doctors favor using first names to create a friendly atmosphere, patients should also be addressed with dignity using their titles. This situation highlights the imbalance often experienced by patients and the importance of maintaining professionalism in healthcare interactions.
Did you just now notice this inequity? Or have you always addressed your patients with titles and surnames, since you expect them to use yours? Because that is the rule.
Respect should be reciprocal. It rarely is, in these situations. Doctors tell Miss Manners that they should be so addressed because they earned the right to that title.
As Miss Manners has pointed out, when people are friends, they either both have their clothes on or neither of them do.
You could use the ploy of responding in kind, using your physician's given name. Or, slightly more tactfully, you could ask, ‘Shall we call each other doctor?’
#medical-etiquette #patient-dignity #professional-titles #reciprocal-respect #healthcare-communication
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