Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A note on style

Boyd Haley, PhD, is technically entitled to be addressed as "Doctor" with a capital "D," but considering that KOMU is quoting his statements about a medical subject, it's misleading to begin the article by identifying him as a "doctor" with a lowercase "d". Doesn't this imply that he is an MD or DO – a licensed health care professional? He is not.

"Professor Haley" is equally respectful, and eliminates ambiguity regarding his professional status.

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