The first Medical School opened in the American Colonies the decade before the Revolutionary War, but American medical schools didn't become standardized until the early Twentieth Century when the scathing Flexner Report exposed drastic inconsistencies among the then existing 155 medicals in the United States and Canada.
This isn't surprising. It took a long time for the profession to evolve from barbers acting as surgeons and the regular application of leeches to remove "poisoned" blood. Today, it takes nearly a decade of schooling and no less than three separate certifications to lay claim to the title "Doctor." Without this evidentiary material, falsely claiming to be a doctor can lead to arrest. Even if you did stay at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.
Imagine, then, the outrage we would have today if, following the Flexner Report, some government bureaucrat decided, when writing the new standards that would define "Doctor," that author decided to draft a proposal that would be "Business Model Neutral." She wouldn't want to upset all those moonlighting barbers who wanted to be surgeons. And, Lo! The thought of putting the poor leech salesmen out of business for want of mere science. Why stop at leeches, though, why not include purveyors of snake oil as well.
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