Where do you get medical advice?

This story eventually made MSNBC's "weird news" category, but the original story can be found in the Idaho Statesman.

A Boise woman who police say posed as a plastic surgeon and fondled at least two women in local bars is being held in the Ada County Jail on a $100,000 bond for two felony charges for practicing medicine without a license.

Boise police and Ada County prosecutors say 37-year-old Kristina B. Ross — posing as Dr. Berlyn Aussieahshowna — touched women’s breasts under the guise of a “breast exam.”

Prosecutors said Wednesday one woman disrobed for Ross and another was grabbed above her clothes.

Ignoring the whole transgendered issue (Ross has a previous arrest record as a man), the basic reaction to the story has concentrated on the alleged stupidity of the women who submitted to breast exams in bars.

After all, everyone knows that you don't have medical procedures in bars. You have medical procedures in stores.

I talked about this a little over a year ago. Among other things, the article discussed the success of Walgreens subsidiary Take Care Health Systems, which had more than 345 offices at the time. They have approximately the same number today, according to their site.

Let's face it - in some respects, getting a medical procedure in a bar is equivalent to getting a medical procedure in a Walgreens. You object to booze in the bar? Many Walgreens stores sell alcohol. Don't like a bar's loud music? Walgreens cranks the in-store music up at times. Foul restrooms in bars? Not every Walgreens has a pristine five-star restroom. Weird people in bars? I don't think the customers at a Walgreens (including myself) are going to be on the society pages any time soon.

Of course, there are purists who insist that you need to go to a real medical clinic to get real medical procedures. But that is not a 100% guarantee:

A woman arrested at a South Miami clinic and accused of posing as a doctor is out of jail. Ana Young was released on $37,000 bond on Friday according to the Miami-Dade County Women's Detention Center.

Young was arrested Thursday morning at at the Family Holistic Health Center in the 7800 block of Southwest 57th Avenue. Police said the 55-year-old did not have a license to be practicing medicine.

Or how about this?

The West Alabama Narcotics Task Force alleges that Jeffrey Alan Bolling of Fayette, a former used car salesman, has illegally been posing as a diet doctor at a Tuscaloosa weight loss clinic, at times giving patients injections....

Now some may claim that those things happen in the south. Well, what about this?

Michail Sorodsky craved the distinction of being a doctor. Instead, he now has the distinction of being thrown into jail with a massive bail: $33 million.

Sorodsky has been accused of practicing medicine without a license since 1995 in Sheepshead Bay, a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Yes, he was in business since 1995 and never stopped.

So before you condemn Idaho bar patrons as stupid, what about the rest of us? eHow provides some suggestions on how to check your doctor's legitimacy; the prime suggestion is to check the doctor's claims of board certification(s).