American DO and its equivalent British Qualification

[Rolfe]

I understand (and will soon be corrected if wrong), that a Doctor of Homoeopathy in the UK is a trained GP who has gone on to acquire qualifications in Hom.

(If so, this would be analogous (qualification wise) to the situation with the American DO. )

So would a UK Doc Hom be able to work in America?

It's not analagous. Here, regular doctors (MBChB) can go on a course and take some "exams" and get something called MFHom, which makes them homoeopaths. (Cue BSM's patent joke - what do you call the dipstick who came bottom of his class at medical school? MFHom.) But they have done a normal medical degree first and they don't stop being doctors. I can't imagine that having a woo postgraduate diploma would prevent the US equivalent of the GMC from registering them on the basis of their first degree.

In contrast, the DO is a first degree. As far as I can make it out, it has evolved from something which used to be quacky like the DC, but the osteopaths saw the light and transformed their courses into regular medical courses with just a touch of the old woo round the edges. As a result the DO is recognised in its own right as a medical qualification.

Rolfe.