NYC docs ditching the white coat for designer suits

I’m a believer in the white coat. Apparently NYC docs are too stylish to care:

Wearing a pricey Italian suit, Paul Lorenc, a Park Avenue plastic surgeon, wields a purple pen, marking up faces, thighs, stomachs, and breasts to show patients where he’ll be cutting and what he’ll be removing; he injects wrinkle-smoothers like Botox and Restylane, and he removes post-operative stitches.
Dr. Lorenc’s uniform generally comprises a dark Canali suit, a bespoke, monogrammed white dress shirt, a silk Versace tie, gold cuff links from Tiffany & Co., and black leather shoes by Bally. Absent from his ensemble: a white lab coat.
In an effort to put their patients at ease – and, in some cases, to show off their fashion sense – many city doctors are hanging up their white jackets.

Comments

Criminallopath
And allopaths are being “killed” and having to “flee” becauase of the costs of doing business. Apparently, the proof is in the “suit.” The plebeians should think about this the next time they are asked to give up their rights and to devalue the lives of children, the non-rich elderly and stay-at-home mothers.
anonymous
Basically doctors like these are in sales. They are cultivating an image that they believe sells. Witness Jaguar’s “Gorgeous” advertising campaign. Same thing. I’m sure these doctors would do well selling luxury cars, maybe better!
In my opinion, the most professional attire for a physician is shirt, tie, and white coat. A crisp, white coat denotes cleanliness, hygeine, and professionalism much better than a designer suit ever can. I believe it also is a plain vanilla wrapper of sorts, and that most patients feel more comfortable with this conservative and traditional garb to flashy duds.
Criminallopath
I think this is what we need to see more often. The best time would be during a “job action” when patients are inconvenienced and/or abandoned.
Anirban
Criminallopath
The salary of this doctor is not coming from insurance probably ,rather a fee for service ,as insurance doesn’t cover the plastic surgery ,anyway he can afford this as he can provide a good service . but majority of the internists I know doesn’t even come close to this. Wearing a lab-coat or not is more of a personal choice . if patients didn’t like him , as some one suggests . they would’ve got someone else . But the parapherenalia of this surgeon speaks otherwise .
Orac
Plastic surgeons have always been known for dressing stylishly. It’s all sales. Well-off patients looking for cosmetic surgery seem to expect it.
Fastolfe
It would have to depend on the nature of the doctor. I view the doctor’s white coat as something the doctor doesn’t mind getting dirty. If I have a spot, or an ooze, or something, the coat suggests the doctor isn’t going to mind getting up close and personal to investigate or treat it. An expensive suit sends the opposite message. If I were in his place, I wouldn’t want to get near a patient that might get my expensive suit dirty. This changes way the patient (well, me, at least) looks at the doctor.
Now, when you’re just going in for some consultation, or seeing a doctor that isn’t normally touching you, the white coat isn’t necessary and I wouldn’t mind at all if he or she were dressed nicely.
It might, however, just serve to point out that the doctor is rich, and the patient is not. This might negatively impact the relationship a little bit if the patient is sensitive to that sort of thing. But in some fields (cosmetic surgery), it probably wouldn’t matter.
Carol
I just plain like the long white lab coat. If it’s clean it tells me something about the doctor. If it’s not clean it tells me a lot more about the doctor.
I my doctor’s office there is a uniform for every employment level. The administrative staff wear a certain color of scrubs. The nursing staff wears a different color. So you always have some idea of the job and skills of the person you’re talking with. The physicians all wear the long white lab coat.
I was in my doctor’s office last week and saw a tall young man I hadn’t seen before. He was wearing a short white coat. The nurse said “Oh, he’s the intern”. I said, “Really? I bet he’s a 3rd year med student, not an intern.” She asked how I knew and I told her “Look at his coat.”
The coat means something. The coat is earned.
lawyersux
“I just plain like the long white lab coat. If it’s clean it tells me something about the doctor. If it’s not clean it tells me a lot more about the doctor.”
In the Level one trauma center/asylum I work in our coats are often covered in bright red blood. The hundreds of african american males in my city who get shot every year come to my ER. We get 2 coats a year as part of our benefits. What does that tell you about the doctors who work here?
Criminallopath
Why are you wasting your time with them? Take the weekend “plastics” or “cosmetic surgery” course and start stuffing those bags of saline into the vainglorious.
medstudent24
“I was in my doctor’s office last week and saw a tall young man I hadn’t seen before. He was wearing a short white coat. The nurse said “Oh, he’s the intern”. I said, “Really? I bet he’s a 3rd year med student, not an intern.” She asked how I knew and I told her “Look at his coat.”
The coat means something. The coat is earned.”
The guy coulda been a 4th year.
Anyways, I disagree with you about the white coat. Everybody and their brother wears it. Nurses wear it. Resp techs wear it. Lab techs wear it. CNAs wear it. Phlebotomists wear it.
There was a day and age in which only doctors wore the white coat, but then everybody else decided they wanted to wear it too.
Wearing a white coat means absolutely nothing about your status. You could be the chief of staff, or you could be a tech with 6 months of training out of high school.
lawyersux
In Europe, pizza delivery guys wear the White coats. The Long ones. Guess they wore the short coats when they were in training to be pizza delivery guys.
anonymous
Maybe the pizza delivery guys are doctors! Which would you rather deliver with present day circumstances, a pizza or a baby?
Carol
lawyersux: does your statement mean that only black people bleed on you at work? Wow where DO you work? As for two coats: I know of no professional – or any non professionals who only have two articles of a basic part of their business wardrobe (except shoes maybe?). You’re given two? Great. Buy a few more. And lots of bleach. Also, I would expect someone in “the trenches” to be a good bit less formal than in my doctor’s office – which is what I wrote about. As for pizza guys and their coats? My butcher wears one, too. But not at a doctor’s office or a hospital…
med24 You’re right – could have been 4th year (but he was really jumpy). I have had experience with non-doctors wearing long coats, but not white. Often horrible shades of mauve or seafoam. I’m sure it happens a lot. Doesn’t mean I think it is appropriate.
Steve White
I’ve been a doc for 25 years now, and I ditched the white coat after only a couple of years.
Reason: if it’s over 50 degrees outside, I sweat. And the white coat makes me sweat more. I dislike that.
It has nothing to do with separating myself from a patient, or professionalism, etc. I’m just uncomfortable wearing the darned things.
My usual uniform is a blue oxford shirt and khaki slacks. My patients, the nurses, everyone, knows this is my uniform, and it doesn’t seem to bother them.
Anonymous
Cosmetic plastic surgeons do not wear lab coats during consultations because their patients are healthy and not requiring treatment at that time. The initial visit is the opportunity for the patient to discuss their concerns while being examined by the surgeon. The chaparone who attends the surgeon at this time is often neatly dressed in business attire.
By being well dressed, the cosmetic plastic surgeon inspires confidence in the patient regarding his success as a surgeon and his awareness of contemporary trends.
On the day of the procedure, rest assured that the surgeon and everyone connected with the procedure will be correctly attired.
At all times, the enviornment of a cosmetic plastic surgeon’s office adheres stringently to its highly covetted Quad A rating. This rating document should be prominently displayed in the physician’s suite. If the patient can’t see it, ask for it.

NYC docs ditching the white coat for designer suits

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