MD vs. DO

[Catfan73]

Anyone have any experience with this? I'm going to have to find a new primary care physician soon as my current doc is leaving his practice to be a private corporate doctor. He's a good doctor but I'm not real torn up about it for several reasons. I won't go into details, just suffice to say that I would like to find a doctor more in the mold of the family doctors around when I was growing up and less of the assembly-line pharmaceutical industry linked model that prevails now. I'm not sure if things would be any different with a DO or not.

[Darrell KSR]

I coached basketball with a DO for about 10 years, and still play basketball with him occasionally. He's a good guy, and had a family practice that I think would have been in the perfect mold you seek. But I'm sure it varies by person.

I don't think I would have any issue with a DO as opposed to a MD myself.

[Catfan73]

Thanks for the input Darrell.

[Doc]

For a general practitioner, either one is fine. Most folks don't know if their Dr is an MD or DO. In many cases, a DO is better as they tend to have a wider view of the body and has more positive approach...homeopathic meds, allowing the body to treat itself, and is more literally Hands on, etc.... I have a neighbor who is a DO and while my primary care physician is a traditional MD, I often use my neighbor for stuff that "pops up". I don't change simply because my MD has been my physician for about 20 years and I have numerous problems.

[Doc]

http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/paging-dr-gupta/whats-the-difference-between-an-md-and-a-do-and-how-do-i-choose/

This is a better link
http://myheart.net/articles/md-vs-do/

[Catfan73]

Interesting stuff, thanks Doc. I had actually read the piece by Gupta and came away with the feeling he might be a little biased.

I was talking to my mother about this and she laughed and said one of the doctors back home that I saw a few times probably 30 years ago was actually a DO. She was an excellent doctor.