Provider vs. Physician

Please read NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD’s blog piece called If You Call Me a Provider, I Will Assume You are a Nazi.  

In it she traces back the origin of when doctors were first called “providers”:

In 1933, the German Society of Pediatrics asked pediatricians who were Jewish to voluntarily resign or be removed from the membership roster. Sadly, an organization that should have been committed to the preservation of all humanity, wholeheartedly embraced Nazi policy, holding their first Aryan National Pediatric meeting in 1934.

In the 1937 issue of the Reichs Medizinal Kalender, a directory of doctors, the remaining Jewish doctors in Germany were stigmatized by a colon placed before their names [Figure 1]. Their medical licenses were finally revoked in 1938. They could no longer call themselves “Arzt” or “doctor.” They were degraded to the term “Behandler” or, freely translated, “provider.” The Jewish doctors had lost their government approbation. They could no longer hang out their shingle and even their prescription pads had to reflect the new law restricting their patients to other Jews [1].

These acts of systematic humiliation forbade the appointment of Jewish doctors. Additionally, they could not own a typewriter, enter theaters or restaurants, use public facilities or be on the street at certain times.

I recommend you read her whole piece. It was nicely done and reinforces YOUR belief that you should not be called a “provider”. We are physicians. We sacrificed our youth to get here. Others, with less education and less training, pretend to be “as good as” and they aren’t. Others, with less education and less training, are calling themselves doctors. Do not let anyone convince you that you are worth less. It’s time to fight back.

We are physicians. Let others be called providers.

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