Did you know that the best doctor in Seattle is an actor? Not good news if you happen to be in need of one, for whatever ails you.

Seattle Magazine often features a “Best of Seattle” where they name the best restaurants, clubs, stores, doctors, dentists, pet sitters, specialists in Season Affective Disorder, people who can spit the furthest, people who dress the grungiest, etc. The March issue features their annual Best Doctors, and guess who’s on the magazine cover? Some grinning jackal with a vaguely familiar face–and for those of you who watch TV, you’ll probably scratch your head and say, “Hey, doesn’t he look like that actor who plays Dr. X on Grey’s Anatomy?”

Well, surprise. It is the actor on Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t remember his name, and don’t feel the need to look it up, but rather than putting a real picture of a real doctor on the magazine cover, they put a photo of an actor. Cute, huh. It seems like something you’d more likely find in LA, but no, this is Seattle. And what a sad statement. Are the editors of Seattle magazine ashamed of all of the great doctors that live and work in this city? Do they think them too ugly, too fat, too revolting, to put on the cover?

Wouldn’t a nice cover shot of a group of Seattle’s outstanding physicians been a more appropriate cover for a magazine issue that is celebrating their status? If I were a doctor working here, I’d be highly insulted. In fact, I’m a nurse without a Washington license, who doesn’t work as a nurse anymore, and I’m insulted. It is humiliating that they think they need to put the mug of a fictitious actor who stars in a silly medical drama (which has been pointed out as being one of the most medically inaccurate hospital TV programs of all times) on the cover.

So what next? Maybe when Seattle magazine celebrates its Top Lawyers, they can a photo on the cover of the old team from LA Law, that hot show from the 70s or 80s or whenever. And for top dentists, maybe Dr. Tim Whatley from the sitcom Seinfeld. You know, Jerry’s dentist.

In fact, maybe the editorial staff of Seattle magazine might like to be replaced by a fictional team.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all….