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One year later, physicians remember -- and prepare

AMA Leader Commentary. By Yank D. Coble Jr., MD. Sept. 16, 2002.

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AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

SEE ARCHIVES

A message to all physicians from AMA President Yank D. Coble Jr., MD.

By the time many of you read this column, our nation will have marked the one-year anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11. We will have paused and reflected, and especially remembered those who perished -- the airline passengers, firefighters, police officers and office workers, the husbands and wives, the daughters and sons.

Many of us will also remember those who died in the anthrax attacks of October 2001, the victims who opened our nation's eyes to the frightening potential of bioterrorism.

This October, these victims will be in the thoughts of the physicians who are attending the 2002 General Assembly of the World Medical Assn. in Washington, D.C. These physician leaders, who represent 80 national medical associations, will listen as experts discuss the threat of weaponized anthrax and smallpox -- and how the physician community can prepare.

They also will vote to approve a draft declaration, titled "Responding to the Growing Threat of Biological Weapons." For all those who attend, especially AMA leaders, it will be a fitting way to remember those who lost their lives last year.

The WMA meeting is not a response to the events of one year ago, however. In 1999, AMA leaders and senior staffers recognized the need for a world focus on the threat of bioterrorism and proposed that the WMA address this topic at its 2002 meeting. Our reasoning? Smallpox can cross national borders. Anthrax can travel for miles. Evil people have access to these and other dangerous biological agents; what's more, they have the will to use them. Global threats demand a coordinated global response, and the WMA is the appropriate organization to take the lead on behalf of the international community of physicians. [...]