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The AMA Does Not Represent Us
As the American Medical Association begins its annual convention in Chicago, we want to take this opportunity to make it clear to the American public, to the media, and to the president and members of Congress, that the AMA does not represent us. It is a common misconception that this organization speaks on behalf of most American physicians but that is a misconception with very serious consequences at such a critical time in the health care reform debate. So long as the public, the media and our elected officials lump all physicians together as “the AMA,” then we are guilty by association of a failure of our Hippocratic oath to “first, do no harm.”
In fact, the AMA represents less than one-third of America’s physicians, and half of those are retired. In fact, the American Medical Student Association endorses universal health care reform.
The AMA’s longstanding opposition to every effort to change health care financing, including Medicare in the 1960s, has resulted in decades of needless and countless morbidity and mortality. Sixty people die every day in this country simply for lack of access to health care. And instead of being an advocate for the only solution that accomplishes the goals of universal coverage and fiscal viability, the single-payer option, the AMA continues to be primarily a trade association looking out for the financial interests of its members.
But who, then, is looking out for the interests of patients? Certainly not Congress and the president. If that were so, the United States would long ago have relieved itself of the dubious distinction of being the only developed country in the world that does not have a universal system of health care. No, the evidence is clear that our Congress and our president are looking out for themselves and continuing the tradition of pay-to-play politics. How else would a reasonable person explain the fact that our elected officials, Democrats and Republicans combined, have accepted $12 million in campaign contributions since 1998 from the American Medical Association?
We would suggest that the American people, the media, President Obama, and the members of Congress need look no further than PNHP, Physicians for a National Health Program, if they want to consult an organization that represents the interests of patients and has been doing so for 22 years.
We are proud members of PNHP. We’re waiting and eager to be consulted. And our physicians are willing and able to continue to engage in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. Health care reform is the civil rights issue of the decade.
The AMA does not represent us.
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25 Comments so far
Show AllThank you doctors. You have been a beacon of light on the healthcare issue. It is sad the media wants to continue the myth that the AMA somehow speaks for ALL doctors when the truth is much more simple - the AMA is a lobbying group of healthcare interests - nothing more.
To Dr Flowers and Dr Paris,
Please ask the PNHP to join us in wearing a visible symbol that will help us count our millions for single payer. Please read the following. In this way we can all show we are standing behind you.
........Two thousand years ago a Roman senator suggested that all slaves wear white armbands to better identify them. “No,” said a wiser senator. “If they see how many of them there are, they may r.e.v.o.l.t.”
The insurance industry control that has been consolidated at the top of our government, including members of Congress, know that keeping us unseen and divided about what we can agree upon has worked to their advantage.
Every single payer supporter needs to begin wearing a BLUE BANDANA immediately. Make it visible daily. The bandana can reach critical mass very quickly. Remember while we are busy behind our kepboards the health care insurance industry is succeeding in destroying us because we can’t even see who “us” is.
I say stand out where you are and let us see you. START TODAY wearing a BLUE BANDANA. When they see how many of us there are, will we see then what they think about conducting “business as usual.”
We need to SEE bandanas………………………………….and so do THEY
P.S. If you would like for me to send you our email about "branding" the single payer movement just email me at civilsociety@bellsouth.net.
We are getting great response from the public for this idea and many organizations will be sporting this must-have attire for the June 25th rally in DC.
Please help us help you.
Dr Flowers and Dr Paris, thank you for hitting back. And for doing our fighting for us. I have your buttons and bumper stickers. A little pricey for my income, but great to get 5 at a time. I am busy finding new homes for the rest of them. I had to write up a fact sheet for most people don't have a clue about single payer. Even those who want to wear the button.
civil behavior, I like your blue bandana idea.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
In his address to AMA convention members, Obama made it clear that he'd support no plan that "...doesn't work for you folks."
But as everyone knows, the 'you folks' of the AMA are little else than banksters in lab coats.
Which means that as far as Obama's concerned, us folks (the system-brutalized medical consumers) are hardly his highest concern, if a real concern at all.
Were just cash machines for the AMA ( The American Money Ass.) fucking heartless MD's MBA's Fuck this group they are truly hypocrites.
People can bitch and moan all they want on these BBs, about Pelosi, the AMA, healthcare, or whatever, but to actually get any action people must be willing to WRITE to their two senators and their congressperson and tell each how they feel. Begin by telling them that you are a "registered voter" and from what town/district. Politicians live by a few simple rules.
One: "silence denotes consent" - to wit, if they don't hear from their constituents, they believe that people back home approve of what they're doing.
Two: Public demonstrations mean nothing. Out of a million people on the Washington mall, less than a third are registered voters, of those less than half will vote, and only a small percentage are apt to be from any one district....
Three: Each person who takes the time to actually WRITE is considered to represent about 4,000 people. One problem with this is that the corporations who have virtually unfettered access to all congresspeople, portend to represent a like amount or more.
The other 'rule' which many live by is "the business of government is business, the business of big government is big business." These posts are great when used as a tool to learn how others are feeling, but they do nothing to change policy. (IMHO)
In a just world, Dr. Flowers and Paris would have their say and their efforts would be honored by millions in the country. Instead, we have a totally apathetic and ignorant public that either doesn't know them or even thinks badly of them. Anyone who defends Baucus against Flowers is part of the problem. And another thing, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have the nerve to pressure and arm twist their own party into more war funding just like they did on the Wall $treet bailout last year. And even if that fails to pass, they'll even violate the rules and bring it up too soon and add in pork and more tax cuts for the already well to do. In a just world, love and caring would come first before profits and sleazy advertising. Maybe in our next lives will we see a just world where Venus rules instead of Mars.
Thank you doctors for your leadership. I didn't know that AMA represents less than a third of doctors. I'm heading on over to your site to buy some goodies, to make sure I can be SEEN if not heard. I'm writing my representatives.
I could see making some compromise on issues like malpractice awards. I could see more justification for it under a single-payer system. Maybe awards could be limited in exchange for repeat offenders losing their license and the public having more access to records?
civilservice: Blue bandanas are a good idea. I've got one and I'll start wearing it.
Only 15% of the doctors in the AMA are actually practicing medicine. I like your ideas on malpractice compromise. Nobody can be perfect, but a consistently accident-prone doctor needs to find another job. Right now, all they have to do is cross the state line and start over.
I've always supported the idea of a database of performance by doctors. I've heard of only one case in New York (surely there are more?) of a doctor losing his license. He was a legally blind urologist performing prostate surgery. He might have gotten away with it if he had been a gynecologist.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
The PNHP is far superior to HR 676 which puts far too much power in the hands of the President, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Committees appointed by the President.
We need to take the politics out of universal health - the sponsors of HR 676 must be educated to a better alternative.
I can only add to the expressions of admiration and regard for the authors of this article and their colleagues-- including colleagues like the recently slain George Tiller, MD.
These are dedicated, principled, compassionate, humane, thoughtful and selfless physicians who put the needs of the patient before all.
Although they may be exceptional in both personal integrity and being vocal activists within their profession, I expect that there are others in their profession who share and support their mission.
I hope they inspire further expression of dissent within the ranks.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Just a note. What is never reported in the press is the back-story behind the first attempt on Dr. Tillman's life. She was a woman in her 50's. She had never committed a crime before and was, by all accounts, a law-abiding citizen.
She had a bible with her and a .22 caliber pistol.
But we aren't allowed to talk about what a devout Christian she was in the press.
I don't know what it is about religon, but in the right hands it certainly has the power to turn very good people to evil.
If Dr. Flowers and Dr. Paris would like to do something wonderful for their patients, they could start investigating and practicing nutritional medicine. Costs would absolutely plummet and quality of care would improve.
Educate yourself. Search "Bec5" "D-Mannose and E Coli". Or checkout "pyridoxamine". This is a form of Vitamin B6 that was just banned for over the counter sale because serious research showed what "health food freaks" and "quacks" have known for years, that it would help prevent diabetic neuropathy. You guessed it--there's a new drug on the market that is pyridoxamine in disguise with a much bigger price tag. The FDA could not get away with this if the doctors in PNHP stood up for true cost control and quality care. Some doctors want single payer because they're sick of fighting insurance companies.
I agree up to a point but let's not strain the doctors here. They're already fighting enough of a living hell. The doctors aren't getting the time and resources they need to do what you're wishing. This is why we first need single payer ASAP so that the doctors can get to do what you are asking for. And it's not just the insurance companies who are ripping the doctors apart. The drug companies and even the corporate trial lawyers are also ripping the doctors out and they too are fighting to make sure single payer never sees the light of day.
But how do I separate this from things like Ephedra, which actually kills people and was billed as a natural remedy?
Ultimately you are conflating a problem here with the FDA and not directly with the issue at hand. The FDA's teeth were pulled sometime in the 90's by congress and probably Bill Clinton when the law was changed such that any "medicine" labeled as either alternative or herbal did not need to prove efficacy and only needed to pass minimal trials for safety. Further, even in the case of more serious drugs, the FDA now has to fight each individual case in the courts rather than placing the burden of proof upon the companies who wish to profit from the sale of any drug or remedy.
This has got to be the worst legislation ever passed. It stripped us, the people, of the protection against poisons and charletanism that the FDA provided.
The subsequent Republican profit orgy has further watered down the FDA making the chasing of profit far more important than public health.
Reading these studies and this history is sobering.
Personally, I cannot understand why a class of people who are so concerned about what they put into their bodies would latch on to such remedies. I don't care if the Chinese have been taking it for thousands of years, I would like to know whether it's been proven safe and effective first.
My reason is very simple. Randomness almost always fails. To get ANYTHING that you actually want, in any field of endeavour, you have to do some work and be careful. Why would this be any different than when your body is concerned? You MIGHT miss out on the next wonder cure, but what is far far more likely is that you will take something that will either kill you or hasten your natural end. Only slightly less likely than that is that you will simply take something which is ineffective...but then forego a treatment with proven efficacy. Also not a wise choice.
I fully expect the explosion of bile claiming I support big pharma...I do not, I fully accept that profit motives motivate their research. What I support is really very simple to say, but difficult to implement,....full scientific testing, frank public discussion of the results of those tests.
The idea that Ephedra, ie a herb that contains ephedrine, "kills people" is wrong.
Instead of engaging in a meaningless rant against herbal / nutritional supplements, I suggest you actually go read the SCIENTIFIC double blind properly structured studies that have been published on ephedrine / ephedra. Not some scare mongering newspaper reports. By properly structured, I mean studies whereby the dosage and usage is monitored. Not any lazy study that assumes that just because some idiot used the substance irresponsibly, it "kills people".
Ephedrine is a drug. Like any drug, it can have side effects if used stupidly / irresponsibly. Or if what you are consuming is contaminated, ie with poisonous substances. If you overconsume sugar, get diabetes, and other than related ailments, do you then say that "sugar kills people"?
If you overdose on ephedrine, consuming WAY beyond the recommended dosage, and combine that over dosage by stopping the consumption of fluds, and / or sit in a sauna, and / or run endless hours under the hot sun, in an idiotic attempt at weight loss, it ISN'T ephedra that "kills people". It is STUPIDITY that kills people. If you consume say, 200 mg of ephedra a day, which is more than 3 times the standard dosage, and combine that with idiotic actions such sitting in a sauna, not drinking fluids, and using other substances that also have a diurectic effect, such as caffeine, it is your own stupidity that killed you. Not ephedra. If you stab yourself with a knife while drunk, it isn't the knife, nor the alcohol, that is responsible for killing you.
Used properly, ephedrine / ephedra is safe. The safety and efficacy of ephedrine has been proven in properly structured double blind scientific studies.
I don't care whether you support big pharma or not. But, do your research before ranting.
Well, I wrote you a very long answer and my computer did not comply. I will try to post and if I can I'll try a rewrite
Regarding ephedra see rfloh, 4:22am.
I don't know what you mean by random. There is nothing random about any of this. What there is, is a conspiracy of silence and power of monopoly. Anytime a natural product is actually shown to be useful in disease, the FDA declare it a drug and takes it off the OTC market. Then a pharmaceutical company changes/adds a methyl group or a hydroxyl group or some other minor biochemical adjustment, patents it and sells it for 10-50 times what it should cost. Then, because it's a prescription drug you have to go to the doctor to get it. Now, a $20 purchase is suddenly a $200-$300 bill. Somebody just did some serious research on red yeast rice, watch for that to disappear.
I met a young woman who worked as a nurse's aide for a small home health company run by an RN who apparently knew about alternative healing. The young woman told me the RN told her to take something for her UTI and she did. Three days and $20 later she was fine. Then she decided to pay attention to other things her boss had been telling her so she stopped eating donuts every day. She said her stomach pains just stopped. This really is not rocket science. Most of thee "cures" are safe at relatively high doses, some are not. Some things work for the simple reason that if you are deficient in a nutrient, giving that nutrient will "cure" your problem. It's not a miracle cure, just meeting a body's needs, which are different for everyone. See Vitamin D research. They're trying to make an analog and then watch it be declared a drug. You can now get eight monthe of a therapeutic dose for about $25 which includes shipping. Locally, folks tell me they pay $8-10 for an eight month supply of a smaller amount, 100 days of a therapeutic dose.
I did not say "go heal thyself", it really isn't that hard if you have some experience and know how to read your own body. Some people will always need professional guidance and some things, like IV vitamin C and IV magnesium require a physician. My point is that the medical profession has ignored, mocked, libelled and suppressed any information about or use of these various substances or methods. When physicians do use them they are seriously harrassed by the medical licensing boards and the FDA. Physicians can lose their licenses for curing someone if they used "unapproved" treatments, even when their patients testify for them. For those who want health care legislation--there's step one. Physicians should only lose their licenses if they breach ethics or damage patients, not because they heal them cheaply with "unapproved" treatments. The physician whose newsletter I will recommend to you below, once had the FDA thugs in his office with guns drawn(staff and patients watching. They were there to confiscate some B vitamins and herbs he had ordered from Germany.
If you truly want to educate yorself I know of two options. For $49 you can subscribe to Nutrition & Healing newsletter and gain access to 9 years of archives. Search almost anything and, if you are unaware of these methods, you will be stunned, and yes the research is there with references. www.wrightnewsletter.com
If you do not want to spend money, go to www.hsibaltimore.com Sign up for daily e-alerts. There are also archives of e-alerts which you can search. Not as extensive as the newsletter but a good overview. Ignore the ads, pay attention to the text, and follow up with your own investigations. If you go to official medical websites, they usually give negative comments--such as their rejection of bio-identical hormones, despite testimony form thousands of patients and dozens of physicians, but eventually you will see the truth.
And bile, in the right place at the right time, is very good for digestion.
Just learned that Obama's proposal would cost 1 trillion over the next 10 years and still leave 30 million people uninsured. PBS interviewed someone in a different organization of physicians whose numbers are steadily growing and are breaking with the AMA. It appears that health care reform for Obama means feeding the same pig. Not really a plan at all.
Unfortunately, the corporate media would rather present the AMA as the leading representation of doctors. Most of us who are involved with Single Payer Healthcare are aware that it represents less than 30% of the doctors. The problem, as usual, is the blockage in the media tract. We need to keep beating at the fortress wall. Most of us believe that civil disobedience & creative (i.e. public belly dancing) are the best means to attract reluctant media.
Regarding blue bandanas, when we rallied in Augusta, ME, we bought cheap plastic blue tape and tied it to our antennas. It's cheap and available at most hardware / construction stores. Buy a roll and spread it around. It's not something to make money out of, it's meant to spread the word & unite.
How many doctors would give up their miansions and half million to million dollar incomes to take in say $250,000/yr live in a modest condo, send their children public school, drive a Buick and know that they are in a vocation of service to the public instead of self agarndisement? My opinion is optimistic-- I think that more than half would. The other half belongs to the AMA
You're not being fair to the doctors. Yeah, there are some lemons in that crowd, but only 15% of practicing doctors belong to the AMA. And one recently quit dramatically over single payer.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
AMA = Association of Medical Aristocrats
New England Journal of Medicine does excellent editorials on healthcare reform:
http://content.nejm.org/topics/health-care-and-the-new-administration.shtml