Reframing the Question

The more I think about this and read into other people's posts, the more I'm convinced that the whole question of whether doctors "deserve" respect is moot. This may seem strange, since I'm one of the first people to have posted a response to this question, but I feel now that I've approached this topic in completely the wrong way.

There is no practical sense in trying to determine if physicians deserve respect; after all, there is no superhuman force looking on us from on high that bestows doctors with more respect than everyone else. Doctors are simply respected or not respected, or fall somewhere in between based on the aggregate opinion of millions of individuals, none of whom have the singular power to give physicians, as a population, a set reputation. As Jess posted, "respect commands itself," regardless of whether we want it to be commanded or not. Even if we could come to a consensus about the amount of respect physicians "really" deserve, there is nothing we can do to change their status in the real world, unless we were prepared to tamper with the personal perceptions and experiences of every American.

A more useful set of questions might be, "how much respect do doctors actually command?" and "why do they command a particular level of respect among particular populations?" That is, I think it would make more sense to try and determine the state of things as they actually are, instead of asking whether that state is "deserved" or not.

For instance, this blog uses the terms "high status" and "respect" interchangeably, but I would argue that the former does not imply the latter, especially in a society where authority is often challenged. Lawyers, for instance, are extremely well educated, but are viewed with a certain amount of mistrust and disdain in our culture. I would argue that physicians are, in more ways than one, becoming less and less respected by American society as a whole, and that whatever "high status" and power they once enjoyed are slowly being stripped away by Pharma, insurance companies, lobbyists, and even the patients' rights movement.

Now, whether this is morally right or wrong is one thing, but whether it helps our healthcare system is a whole other, probably much more important thing. Our arguments to stop or encourage this trend should not be based on moral entitlement (whether physicians "deserve" what is happening or not), but on an analysis of real efficiency and quality under one system versus another.