How can we help the medical profession? Join the AMA

AMA Leader Commentary. By J. Edward Hill, MD. Aug. 5, 2002.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from J. Edward Hill, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

On a raw January day in 1961, John F. Kennedy, for the first time as president, addressed a nation that just a few months before had been divided over one of the closest elections of the 20th century.

Then, President Kennedy called on a Cold War-era America to search its soul for a spirit of sacrifice, service and cooperation.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he so memorably said.

As I begin my service as chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, our organization faces issues that demand of us that same spirit. The AMA is the most influential and powerful physicians' group in America. But to remain so, we require nothing less than the support and the service of all American physicians.

To borrow from JFK, it could be said: Ask not what your profession can do for you, ask what you can do for your profession.

No physicians' organization has done more for the medical profession -- and none has the potential to do more -- than the AMA.

But without the active participation of America's physicians, we cannot fulfill our core purpose -- to promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of the public health.

Without a dedicated membership, we lose our central source of strength and credibility -- most notably in our advocacy on behalf of our patients and the medical profession.

Without a dedicated membership, we will be unable to build on a record of achievement that has put the AMA among the top 12 most influential organizations in Washington, D.C. [...]