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==Doctoral fraud==
==Doctoral fraud==
The confusion amongst the public between academic and medical doctors can lead to the practise of Doctoral [[fraud]], where the holder of an academic Ph.D. (especially one that has been purchased from a non-accredited college) deliberately misrepresents themself as an M.D. in order to enhance their expert standing or the supposed legitimacy of a pseudo-medical commercial enterprise. For example the nutritionist [[Gillian McKeith]] calls herself a Doctor on this basis alone <ref>http://www.drgillianmckeith.com/</ref> <ref>http://www.badscience.net/?p=362</ref>; ; and the [[sex]] therapist Doctor [[Ruth Westheimer]], though she deals with ostensibly medical matters, is in fact a Doctor of Education <ref>http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542073</ref>.
The confusion amongst the public between academic and medical doctors can lead to the practise of Doctoral [[fraud]], where the holder of an academic Ph.D. (especially one that has been purchased from a non-accredited college) deliberately misrepresents themself as an M.D. in order to enhance their expert standing or the supposed legitimacy of a pseudo-medical commercial enterprise. For example the nutritionist [[Gillian McKeith]] calls herself a Doctor on this basis alone <ref>http://www.drgillianmckeith.com/</ref> <ref>http://www.badscience.net/?p=362</ref>; ; and the [[sex]] therapist Doctor [[Ruth Westheimer]], though she deals with ostensibly medical matters, is in fact a Doctor of Education <ref>http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542073</ref>. The [[conservative]] talk-show host Dr. Laura [[Schlessinger]], although she deals in matters involving personal counseling on her show, holds a doctorate in physiology from Columbia.
The [[theology|theological]] doctorate of the prominent [[Northern Ireland|Northern Irish]] political leader [[Ian Paisley]] is an honorary one from an equally dubious source <ref>http://www.stratagem-ni.com/antrimnorthmlas.php</ref>.
The [[theology|theological]] doctorate of the prominent [[Northern Ireland|Northern Irish]] political leader [[Ian Paisley]] is an honorary one from an equally dubious source <ref>http://www.stratagem-ni.com/antrimnorthmlas.php</ref>.