AMA has information you need to fight bioterrorism

AMA Leader Commentary. By Timothy T. Flaherty, MD. Dec. 3, 2001.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from Timothy T. Flaherty, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

Last month, I stood alongside Sen. Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, Mass.) in Washington, D.C. -- steps away from the Hart Senate Office Building, which had been cordoned off due to anthrax contamination. I was there to pledge the AMA's commitment to the war on terrorism, specifically bioterrorism, and to let physicians know that, in a battle where education is our most important means of defense, the AMA is making the best information available -- in a variety of ways.

Never before in my experience have physicians been so hungry for credible, timely material about a threat to the public health. And never before in my experience has the AMA dedicated so much time and effort to reaching out to physicians about a potential public health crisis.

Most recently, we shifted the agenda of our December Interim Meeting. As I write this column, we are in final stages of planning. By the time you read these lines, experts from around the country will have led clinical sessions on biological and chemical weapons, and informational seminars on community and hospital planning, as well as sessions on coping with the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

In the meantime, the specialty societies, the armed forces and the Dept. of Health and Human Services have provided educational materials for a 24-hour resource room. The AMA has contributed its own information packet, using both print materials and a CD-ROM. We expect that our delegates will take these materials back home to thousands of colleagues in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. [...]