vaxvms ‘Doctors’ aren’t just physicians. There are dentists and optometrists and others that the masses conveniently forget to include.
PhD folks excluded here. ;-)
A tangential point, but yes.
Asimov pointed out that the Ph.D. is the older and original degree, the M.D. is a later development.
The NHS article being about the British, I’ll point out the fact that “doctors” in the United Kingdom (U.K.) mostly do NOT have “doctoral” degrees, rather the main degree upon completion of medical school in Britain (also Ireland) is the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). This is also true in former British colonies such as India.
So in England (etc), “doctor” is a job title, but not a degree.
To confuse things further, by custom the surgeons and similar folks (such as obstetricians) in the British tradition are NOT even CALLED “doctor” but rather “Mister” in recognition of their heritage from the barbers. (Yes, barbers).
In the USA now, many Nurse Practitioners are obtaining Doctoral degrees (typically the DNP/Doctor of Nursing Practice).
Should THEY be called Doctor?
They are not Physicians (nor Doctors as traditionally understood) but they have a “Doctoral degree”.
This will likely lead to further confusion between physicians/doctors and Nurse Practitioners.
For that matter, most US lawyers have a doctoral degree (JD) but we don’t call them doctors.
Increasingly now, pharmacists, audiologists, physical therapists have Doctoral degrees too.
Kurt Vonnegut in his 1952 book “Player Piano” described a future where EVERYONE would have a doctoral degree, even truck drivers.