By calling a surgeon sir, or should I call him doctor?

[teaandcake32]

I am aware there is etiquette around addressing Dr's and surgeons.

Should you call a surgeon Mr ..........., what if you don't know his surname.

Would Sir be an insult? Would Dr be an insult?

Please help me find the correct terminology, wise women of Mumsnet.

If I didn’t know their surname I’d call them doctor

Not the case, only if they're a surgical consultant. Medical consultants are still "doctor".

Consultants are “Dr” unless they are also a surgeon in which case “Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms” (in re the previous post about consultants).

I would only call a surgeon “sir” in the same way I would call any man “sir” if I didn’t know their name and was trying to get their attention eg “excuse me sir you’ve dropped your wallet”.

many surgeons I know would invite people to use their first name, but I would wait to be invited to do so. In the same way that many doctors will call me Mrs Ginger until I ask them to refer to me as Brandy.

It's Mr.. Sir would be odd (dh is one of them)

Drs are dime a dozen in a hospital, when your title is Mr/Miss/Mrs X it signifies your "superiority" but I can understand why someone not working in the medical field would see it as they do.

Teachers, yeah, ok. But they're dealing with children and I think the relationship is unequal as a result. Although a surgeon is of course a highly educated person it grates, in my opinion, in this day and age as I think the relationship is meant to be on a more equal footing? And I certainly haven't come across solicitors/ barristers/ accountants (and yes, I've dealt with them all) who are addressed as anything other than their first names.

No - Mr/Ms is just for surgeons

If you are a consultant physician (eg a neurologist not a neuro surgeon) then you are Dr

I address them the same way as they address me, never had a problem and never really thought about it.

If they want it to come down to, so called professional status, I'm the same as them, just in a different profession, but all surgeons I've come across are normal, nice people.

I use first name, why should I be calling the surgeon Sir?

Yes, that's what I've stated, did you quote the wrong person?

If someone’s about to cut me open, potentially to save my life, then no, I don’t think that’s an equal relationship. In certain
professional contexts respect is due for the status someone has earned by their talents and hard work, in my view. Of course all human beings are of equal dignity, worth and value, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t show respect by using titles and honorifics in certain circumstances.

You would call a solicitor Mr or Mrs?

I wondered why the consultant neurologist was Dr X rather than Mr X - that explains it, thank you.

Yes, on first meeting

You can call me Mrs Mumaway, or Doctor if you aren't sure of my name. I will call you Miss/Mrs/Ms/Your chosen title teaandcake32.

Why?

We called orthopaedic surgeons Mr (including consultants) all others were Dr

I only found this to apply in the UK.

All surgeons and specialists are referred to as Dr here.

this is a really shitty part of the healthcare hierarchy. I’m a midwife and luckily it’s first name terms!!

Not Sir! (Unless they are actually knighted). Mr for surgeon/consultant. Dr for Reg and below.

Only those who are surgical are Mr/Mrs/Miss, irrelevant of consultant/Reg level.

Mr not Dr for sure.

well if he's been rude enough not to introduce himself, ask him?

@TomatoSandwiches no Dr is not lower status. It’s entirely dependent on specialty. Consultant physicians, anaesthetists and intensivists are Dr and Consultant surgical specialists are Mr/Mrs/Ms. The discrepancy is from the days when surgeons were not actually doctors at all, but barbers who performed surgery on the side 😀

Mr/Miss/Ms/Mrs is generally surgeons (as in cutting the skin even if its laprascopic)
Dr all other doctors so GP/Physician/Dr that doesn't cut you open. Unless they're actually a professor/sir/dame or both in which case I think the etiquette is professor sir