Its probably an urban myth but the story of the poor sociologist being asked to resuscitate a heart attack victim does persist. The set up is simple. Dr. X is booked on a flight under their name and title and settles into the in-flight gin and entertainment. Somewhere over the Atlantic a concerned stewardess asks them in hushed tones to accompany her to the first class cabin. Once through the curtains a distraught husband says “thank goodness you're here Doctor, please save my wife”. Cue lots of embarrassment and mumbled apologies about having a doctorate in an obscure Andean cult rather than a medical qualification.

There are, broadly, four different ways to acquire the title doctor. Completing a medical degree; completing a PhD (or DPhil as some Universities call them); be awarded an honorary degree, normally Doctor of Letters or Science; or buying the title from a dodgy website. In fact, while there are strict regulations about who can practice medicine, anyone can add Dr to the front of their name.

I earnt mine through a PhD at the University of Bristol and use it, somewhat erratically, in my job as a science writer and communicator. There are times when its very useful – trying to persuade a reluctant scientists to talk to me – and times when its been a bit of an embarrassment. For example, I found myself chairing a debate recently billed as Dr Toby Murcott alongside three professors and an doctor turned MP, none of whom were given the title Dr. I felt I needed to explain that everyone else on the panel was a medical doctor while I was a PhD. And I have been criticised, with some justification, for being labeled as Dr when writing on the health pages of The Times. I don't claim to be a medical doctor and write about research rather than giving medical advice, but its easy to see how confusion can arise.

What I find more concerning though is a relatively common phenomenon that I bumped into again recently. I was asked to write about a treatment advocated by someone calling themselves Dr but a quick bit of googling showed was not a medical doctor but had been awarded a Doctor of Science from a non-university institute. I don't know what that award involved, Doctor of Science is normally an honorary degree, and I have no idea whether it required anything more than turning up on the day. It may be a high quality research degree, it may be the equivalent of buying a doctorate from the Internet. What is certain is that it is not a medical qualification.

So should they have used the title Dr in a pseudo medical context? My gut says no but my head says maybe. I know of at least one medical doctor who believes that they should not but we do, at least so far, live in a free society and people should be able to call themselves by any moniker they are entitled to. Perhaps even, and I say this reluctantly, if they bought it on-line.

It is, I'm afraid, a cat that has escaped and will never be re-bagged. I will continue to use my Dr when appropriate. What I do do, though, is as far as possible make it clear that I have a scientific not a medical qualification. And anyone who wants to know can and should have the right to check up on me. This is, for me, the key. If you make a public claim to a particular expertise, then the public should have the right to check up on you. I don't know if any University will ever consider putting its register on-line but it would be interesting to be able to confirm anyone's qualifications in a moment. Suddenly it wouldn't matter a jot whether you called yourself Dr or Professor or Lord or Sir Bountiful the Beautiful, if anyone could find out quickly and easily just how you came by that title.