Defending the Educational Standards of Osteopaths

The article “Know a Doctor’s Title to the Letter” by Barrie Cassileth (July 2) was excellent. However, there is more involved in the education of a doctor of osteopathy than was indicated in the article.

Osteopathic physicians are graduates of one of 19 osteopathic medical schools in the U.S. These colleges are accredited by the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Assn. This accreditation is also recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council on Postsecondary Education.

Students entering osteopathic colleges typically have at least a four-year undergraduate degree that includes specific science courses and have taken the Medical College Admission Test.

The curriculum in osteopathic colleges involves four years of study. This is a standard medical curriculum but emphasizes preventive medicine, holistic patient care and the use of osteopathic principles and techniques as part of diagnosis and treatment.

After graduation from an osteopathic college, the DO usually serves a one-year internship followed by two to six years of residency training, depending on the chosen specialty. Although many DOs choose to become primary-care physicians, others train in other specialty areas such as surgery, radiology, pathology, to name a few.

DOs, like MDs, must pass a state board exam to gain a license to practice medicine. Each state licensing board sets its own requirements for issuing a license.

RAYMOND J. HRUBY, DO

College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific

Western University of Health Sciences

Pomona

*

Barrie Cassileth implies that MDs, such as her daughter-in-law, are the only fully trained physicians. This is an insult to DOs, or osteopathic physicians, who have the same training as MDs, often at the same institutions, and who are in many states licensed by the same licensing board (some states have separate boards).

Many DOs, in fact, end up with more training than her daughter-in-law, because the DO training is more well-rounded and most DOs do a general or rotating internship between medical school and residency.

Even if I were to go to Cassileth’s daughter-in-law for a high-priced face-lift, I would feel better if she had a broad range of medical training.

STEPHEN BLYTHE, DO

Medical Director

Family Medical Center

Melbourne, Fla.