OK, I'll bite (you knew I would).
I don't mind people doing anything, so long as they're properly trained for it. If a physio wants to start doing general medical diagnosis, then that's OK with me, so long as they do their xx years of anatomic and clinical pathology. Their legal position is less clear (what if they diagnose a notifiable disease?) and there is no established corpus of law that would define their duties and responsibilities, particularly if a diagnosis is missed or incorrect.
I can't help feeling (the point was made by another poster) that if the country is short of doctors or their training is unsatisfactory that THAT is the thing to remedy, rather than creating a new class of para-doctors.
I find it depressing that medical students now need classes in empathy, for if they are not empathic why are they doing medicine? I find it equally depressing that the same students now have more classes in practice management than in anatomy. Medicine is not at it's heart a business (we have a practice manager who does all that).
As I said in the other thread: "I don't suggest that [paramedics] in general are not competent to recognise scope of practice, but merely point out that when the borders of scope of practice start to become blurred, that it is easy to find oneself in tiger country."
The same applies in medical specialities. For example, I have a lot of urological experience in some areas, but that doesn't make me a urologist. We all have to be careful to stay on the path of what we're trained for and not let hubris deceive us into believing we're so clever. Know your limits and know when to ask for help or advice if your're puzzled or in doubt - there's no shame in that, only wisdom.
My auntie is a Nurse Anaesthetist (properly trained and qualified) in Denmark and must have given tens of thousands of anaesthetics for uncomplicated cases. Why should I have a problem with that?
Lots of other specialities now do aesthetic (read cosmetic) surgery that is traditionally the prerogative of the plastic surgeon. Some of then are "trained" by their peers, some just wing it. So long as they don't represent themselves as accredited plastic surgeons that's OK with the law. Some are pretty competent (if they restrict themselves to three or four procedures) and some are appallingly incompetent. I don't really mind (except insofar as they bring the speciality into disrepute), because I can do it all a lot better than they can. They're not a threat to me. I do get cross when they make a Horlicks of it and I have to try and remedy their less well judged efforts though.
It's a free world after all hey!. If people want to cure their skin cancers with rock-crystal or use Bach flower remedies for their hypertension that's fine! Why should I worry? The problem, if there is one, is society's, not mine. I think it's a bit of a swizz that they're allowed to make all sorts of fantastical claims without any basis, while I have to substantiate everything I do with solid evidence but c'est la vie and caveat emptor.
But retournons a nos moutons. Paramedics are an indispensible and valuable fact of life, long may they flourish! Their expertise is necessarily on a smaller front than a doctor, but within that ambit they can be as good or better.
The danger comes when the continued denigration of doctors by the press and State (and falling standards of medical education and training) begin to lead paramedics to adventure into areas that they are NOT trained in.
Lets all be careful out there.