Call yourself a doctor?

The medical profession has a long tradition of misusing academic titles (Letters, March). After all, physicians style themselves Dr but most of them have two bachelors degrees, not a doctorate.

People sometimes say, "But you're not a proper doctor, then," meaning a physician. I am forced to explain that, on the contrary, it is the physicians who are not the proper doctors.

Jerome V. Healy (Dr), University of East Anglia.