I do agreee and have actually asked many people before if they believe doctors are scientists. The sad answer is many people assume that they are (or should be)

I do agreee and have actually asked many people before if they believe doctors are scientists. The sad answer is many people assume that they are (or should be). There are also researcher-clinicians who practice medicine with patients and are actively involved in research. They are much more likely to be in touch with the latest findings in that field (rather than a standard GP /doctor). I think if you had something that the medical community cant deal with the best thing to do is to do a lit review and take a stack of papers to them although i understand it's not easy for members of the public (especially with a medical ailment) to critically review scientific research. Hopefully, the latest move by the EU to remove paywalls from academic journals means more people from the general public start reading them.