Should Medical Students be Called "Student Doctor"?

There has been a change in recent years in how patients relate to the medical
profession and vice versa. Along with the rise of consumerism, society has shown
that it wants to deminish paternalistic behavior by physicians and assure
informed consent on the part of the patients. Therefore the current ethical
consensus is that there should be a clear understanding between patient and
physician regarding all that is transpiring in medical care. This also means
that any words or behavior on the part of the caregiver which may lead to
deception is not right and may defeat attempts at informed consent.
Medical students have long been identified by the words "student doctor" or
"student physician". Medical students, of course, have neither obtained as yet
their M.D. degree nor have the legal responsibility of a physician. In keeping
with the societal consensus described above, there is some concern whether using
these words by medical students in identifying themselves either orally or on
their name tag or by others identifying these students may itself be deceptive.
The issue here is whether patients or families would misinterpret the
qualifications and responsibilities of the student by these descriptions. Would
you agree that these words may be deceptive and that medical students should
only be identified by the words "medical student"?

Source : Should Medical Students be called "Student Doctor"?