Common Myths About DO's

Common Myths about DO's

Adapted from A Brief Guide to Osteopathic Medicine by Patrick Wu, DO and Jonathan Siu, DO

MYTH: DOs are not “real doctors.”

FACT: U.S.-trained DOs can prescribe medications, perform surgery, and pursue medical specialties in the same manner that MDs do. 

MYTH: DOs have limited practice rights.

FACT: In the United States, DOs and MDs are held equally in the eyes of the law and thus have full practice rights in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

MYTH: Osteopathic medicine is a drugless form of medicine.

FACT: Osteopathic medicine’s founder, Andrew Taylor Still, originally intended for his form of medicine to utilize only a select few medications in certain situations at its conception in the 1800s. However, osteopathic medicine is science-based and has greatly evolved since then. During its evolution, osteopathic medicine has incorporated varied modalities of care, including (but not limited to) pharmaceutical drugs. 

MYTH: DOs are just doctors who couldn’t get into MD schools.

FACT: While some osteopathic medical students choose a DO school after being denied admission to their MD school of choice, many applicants choose to apply only to osteopathic schools based on prior contact with the profession or an interest in primary care. Still others choose to attend a DO school even after gaining admission to MD schools because of the “osteopathic difference.” 

MYTH: “Osteopaths” are the same thing as “osteopathic physicians.”

FACT: Both American osteopathic physicians and non-U.S. osteopaths call themselves DOs. American practitioners are Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, and European practitioners have a Diploma of Osteopathy. There is, thus, some confusion regarding the difference between U.S osteopathic physicians and osteopaths trained in other countries. Osteopaths (the term used for foreign-trained practitioners who practice osteopathic manipulation) are not physicians. Although you may hear U.S.-trained osteopathic physicians being referred to as osteopaths, most prefer the term “osteopathic physician” practicing osteopathic medicine in order to distinguish themselves from foreign-trained osteopaths practicing osteopathy. This confusion has resulted in some reluctance in countries abroad to accept DOs as fully licensed physicians. Nevertheless, U.S.-trained DOs currently hold full medical practice rights in over 65 countries, and restricted rights in a few others.