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A little lip from an LIP

AMA Leader Commentary. By William G. Plested III, MD, June 7, 2004.

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AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

SEE ARCHIVES

A message to all physicians from the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, William G. Plested III, MD.

For too many years I have been obliged to live with the insult of being referred to as a "provider." The good news is that one of my favorite organizations to bash -- JCAHO, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations -- finally committed to getting rid of this appellation.

The bad news is that JCAHO is now on a crusade to change our names to "licensed independent practitioners" or "LIPs."

I think that I made the mistake of saying something nice about JCAHO in the past year, and this is what I get in return! I promise to do better in the future.

I long for the day when I will be recognized by JCAHO and others simply as a physician, a title that I have earned with thousands upon thousands of hours of conscientious study, practice and commitment. However, I suspect I hope in vain.

In this era of political correctness, we are witnessing social promotion in our public schools, massive grade inflation in our most prominent universities, and sporting events during which no one keeps score.

This last is to avoid embarrassing the losers (which, of course, only works if our public school system ensures that kids cannot keep two simple numbers in their heads for the short duration of a game and also have no will to win).

We are also inundated with the wholesale renaming of jobs to inflate the importance of job holders, obliteration of differences in training by using widely inclusive titles, and the substitution of government or other bureaucratic fiat for education and experience.