MGT Only: Shouldn't a working Title confer a bonus to SOC?

[Condottiere]

You also probably need to be in a position to accept liability and get malpractice insurance.

 

[Badenov]

Though, there probably is a minimum age to get a license to practice medicine.

So, Doogie does take 4 years for medical school. And it shortcuts the residency period of medical training, which is a sort of OJT period and apparently runs 3-7 years in RL depending on specialty. (https://residency.wustl.edu/residencies/length-of-residencies/). The time isn't based on the doctor's skill, which Doogie had at a high level, apparently, but because that's how long it takes to see a sufficiently broad cross-section of cases. But if Doogie is certified at 16, he only got 2 years out of a 3 year residency.

As far as minimum age, it's almost certainly 18, because you have to be old enough to take responsibility legally for things.

 

[whulorigan]

Interestingly, if we look at the 'Doctor' career in CT's Citizens of the Imperium (Supp. 4), there's no advantage to enlistment, etc. from Edu. Int gets you enlistment and survival bonuses, and Dex gets you a big enlistment bonus at Dex 9+ (so not just good enough to be a surgeon, but enough to be a notably dexterous surgeon). Doctors gets Merical-1 upon enlistment. Past that they've a 2-in-6 chance per roll on the service skills and both education tables, and can get +1 Soc on the personal development table. The better education table gives them chances of +1 Int or +1 Edu rather than repair skills, while the service skills table might get them +1 Dex (or skill with a melee weapon - it's clearly the 'street doc/'chop shop surgeon' table).

Given doctors have no commissions or promotions, and do not get extra skill rolls past term 1, most full doctors will not be particularly young (average of five terms to get Medical-3). However, COTI pre-dates the '81 version of the LBB, so I'd allow them (and the other no-position careers in COTI) two points per term, like Scouts got, making the average number of terms to qualify 'only' three.

For what it's worth, in MT the Advanced Education tables, due to some of the cascade skills having Medical in them, has a higher chance of getting Medical, and doctors average only needing two terms to qualify.

In both editions Doctor is one of the wealthier careers.

So, I think the generally accepted thing in the thread is that you need Medical 3 to be a fully qualified and titled MD. Medical 2 would rate as something like an Independent Duty Corpsman (in the RL US Navy), some advanced sort of Nurse, or a physician Resident or Intern (in the words of Weird Al, "I still make a mistake or two..."). No idea about skill or cash levels in TNE. Amusingly, you only need Medical 1 to qualify as a Medic aboard most ships per LBB2, though your pay is among the lowest in the crew, between a Gunner and a Steward.

What you can do is combine the CT Sup 4: CotI Doctor Career with the Pre-Career College or Medical School Option of High Guard / Scouts / Merchant Prince. You should come out of College/Med-School (before Doctor-Career Resolution) with some automatic levels of Medical Skill, an automatic bonus to EDU, and an implied MD-degree. And they would start the "Doctor" Career as one who had already "Made Position".

Others who don't go that route (i.e. the standard "Doctor" in Sup4: CotI who need to "make position" and go thru the Career from scratch) are your Field Medics, Paramedics, EMTs, etc, and for those who "Make Position", you have the various Licensed Practitioners and Physician's Assistants.

You can decide if you want to create a roll for making position or not, assuming it is appropriate.

 

[Black Vulmea]

Perhaps it is as simple as allowing the Medical skill-level and/or the MgT EDU Stat-Bonus DM to add to the effective Soc-level in certain situations or environments (or perhaps the lower of the two when compared).

A physician who works full-time at a clinic in South Sudan and a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills are both 'doctor,' but we'd have to be daft to consider their Soc to be anywhere close to one another. And since my conception and understanding of the Third Imperium is very concerned with these sorts of distinctions, I'm fine playing the ball where it lies.