Leadership meeting honors some of medicine's heroes

AMA Leader Commentary. By Timothy T. Flaherty, MD April 1, 2002.

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 in Los Angeles, at the 2002 National Leadership Conference, the cast of "Scrubs" made a house call on physician leaders and reminded us, yet again, how lucky we are to be practicing medicine.

It's easy these days to lose sight of how privileged we are to be physicians. Skyrocketing insurance premiums. Slashed payments. Regulatory abuses. You've heard the litany before, perhaps in this very column. But today, I want to tell you what a cast member from "Scrubs," Zach Braff (Dr. J.D. Dorian) said to our young physician leaders: "You guys are the real heroes."

He's right. At the conference, I saw physician heroes of all kinds. Consider the recipients of this year's Pride in the Profession Awards.

Thomas A. Cornwell, MD, a family physician in Carol Stream, Ill., founded HomeCare Physicians, an organization dedicated to bringing medical care to the homebound elderly. Family physician Janelle Goetcheus, MD, also known as "the Mother Teresa of Washington, D.C.," has made it her life's work to provide health care to the homeless. Charles Edwin Horton, MD, a plastic surgeon in Norfolk, Va., created Physicians for Peace, an organization committed to taking American physicians abroad to provide training and program building. Ronald Paul Bangasser, MD, a family physician in Redlands, Calif., who spearheaded domestic violence awareness efforts in San Bernardino County, was recognized for more than 25 years of service as a leader of organized medicine. [...]