I can only speak from my personal experience on doctors.

My own doctor is an internist who has been my primary care doctor for 21
years.  She was committed to the low fat mantra as the way to gain and/or
maintain health.  Now she is preaching moderate fat.  She is still focused
on the dangers of high cholesterol.

She is an intelligent, caring woman but she cannot seem to think "outside
the box".  She sees that what I am doing is working for me and she respects
me, but I cannot imagine her ever recommending paleo to one of her patients.

Secondly, my mother had double bypass surgery in 2004 at the age of 77.  Her
cardiologist put her on statin drugs and told her she must stay on them the
rest of her life to keep her cholesterol as low as possible.  They checked
her cholesterol every 3 months.  After 6 months it was down to 99.  I told
her that low level was dangerous and she should check with her doctor
immediately.  He told her he wished his cholesterol was that low.  No "out
of the box" thinking here, either.

And, read "The Heart Revolution" by Kilmer McCully.  He was a medical doctor
research scientist who was terribly persecuted by the medical establishment
because he saw the connection between high homocysteine levels causing heart
disease but saw no causative affect with cholesterol.

Paula H.
+++++++++++++++++++
 However, individually doctors are educated and critical thinkers for the
most part and it is unlikely that they as a whole ever fully accepted the
lipid hypothesis.<<  What makes you say this? I know lots of highly educated
people who do not 
think critically. They THINK they think critically, but their decisions are 
as much based on emotion as anyone else's. Why do you think it unlikely that

they never fully accepted the lipid hypothesis? There seems precious little 
evidence to indicate that they have done anything BUT that.
 I'm genuinely interested in your answers.
 Mike W.