Are physicians > everybody else?

Let's take a minute to think about doctors.  What comes to mind?  That person who charged you too much for a test that seemed simple?  Maybe, it's someone who tried everything to save someone you love from cancer.  Or helped your friend who just broke her leg roller-skating?  Or delivered a baby (and so participated in the miracle of life).  Perhaps you've gone to the same family doctor your whole life, and your doctor is someone you consider part of your life.

My point is, that if you take a step back and look at the role of doctors in the lives of people all throughout history, you will probably see that they have ALWAYS been highly esteemed.  It is true that there is a certain stigma associated with physicians in the US in these times - they get paid too much, they are arrogant, they don't take enough time out to really care.  But, I challenge anyone who says those things to walk down the street of your average town or city in the US and find someone else who has the knowledge and ability to help your loved one who has cancer, or your friend who broke her leg.

I'm not saying we should consider doctors the best thing that ever happened to us, because as we all can probably agree on to an extent, the healthcare system is flawed and many physicians have succumbed to the monetary pressures of the insurance companies and the private entities which they work for.  I am saying that before we go criticizing doctors for those things alone, they should be given praise for entering such a challenging field, and actually having some answers to the tough questions.  It goes back as far as history does, that doctors were the only people in the community who could help with certain ailments.  Even in communities where a medicine-man without the "formal" training we associate with medical school cures the communities sicknesses, the medical person is elevated in the eyes of the people.

While physicians aren't by any means supernatural (and shouldn't have to carry that burden), in some people's eyes, they are the closest thing to God on the earth.  Is there anyone else who could open up someone's skull and perform brain surgery?  Successfully?!  I didn't think so.  I don't think it is just the American way to put them on a pedestal - I really believe they have been there as long as the profession has been around, and will remain there forever.