Why do doctors wear white lab coats?

[@glennc100]

Mark Twain's novel, The Prince and the Pauper taught us that "clothes make the man." The white lab coat is merely a costume or outfit that medical providers wear to demonstrate their "intellectual superiority." It's a small part of reason the placebo effect works on pateints. It's all about perception. The same reason the woman behind the Clinique counter wears one.

[@centerofmath]

Nice!

[@beenschmokin]

WRONG! They were to mimic Madison avenue high end retail stores salesmen who wore them.

[@VinceroAlpha]

Silence you twit!

[@gabrielan.anderson1299]

Medicine has ALWAYS been a most-respected profession, going as far back as Asclepios and the shamans of primitive times... As a child (50+ years ago) when I asked this same question, I received what still seems to have been the most reasonable answer: because white cloth (coats, sheets, towels) can be BLEACHED AND BOILED for long, to destroy all germs. Nowadays, when I see Western medical staff dressed in all kinds of colors -- from green and pink down to horrible black -- I feel general public health, starting with that of children, is at great risk. The moral integrity of the physician, who placed patients' lives above any other interests, might have also been symbolised by this color. We need more such questions -- and proper answers -- to bring some good old days' things back....

[@beenschmokin]

Sheep goes obeeeey