The American Medical Association

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the American Medical Association (AMA) first arose as a loose association of medical professionals and scientists in 1847. The writer points out that the group was intended to increase the standards of medical and biological education in North America, but was considered both impractical and utopian by many. The writer then looks at the mission of the organization today and discusses the political action committee's activities. The writer maintains that from Medicare to animal testing to malpractice insure, the AMA and the American Medical Association political action committee, which are, for all intents and purposes, one in the same, have served their beneficiaries as well as possible, through lobbying and outward pressure. The writer concludes that their methods may have brimmed over the line of constitutionality at points, but that should not mar the AMA's record because, as a political action committee, it has done all in its power to legally and persuasively enact legislature to assist America's doctors.

From the Paper:

"Current president of the AMA, Ronald M. Davis, gave a speech in 2005, which highlighted the organization's illustrious history more than any political or economic agendas. At Smith Davis's initial meeting, over two hundred and fifty delegates from twenty-eight states voted to elect Nathanial Chapman the organization's first president. His first actions included those that would be deemed necessary by burgeoning doctors; the condemnation of secretive and patent medicine, which robbed business, and the establishment of a code of medical ethics and the world's first Committee on Medical Ethics to enforce the doctrines. By the end of the nineteenth century, the groundwork had been laid for the organization's present political sphere of influence."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "American Medical Association as a PAC." AMPAC. 10 Nov. 2007. American Medical Association. 4 Jan. 2008 <www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/15/ampac_sab_appl.doc>.
• American Medical Association. American Medical Association Family Medical Guide. 4th ed. New York: Wiley, 2004.
• "American Medical Association." Political Action Committees. 02 Jan. 2008. United StatesCongress. 4 Jan. 2008 <http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.asp?strId=C00000422>.
• Council On Ethical And Judicial Affairs. Code of Medical Ethics, 2006-2007: of the American Medical Association: Current Opinions with Annotations. 1st ed. New York: Wiley, 2006.
• Holahan, John, Joshua M. Weiner, and Alan Weil, eds. Federalism and Health Policy. 2nd ed. Chicago: Urban Institute P, 2003.

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