Unity of purpose: Get involved and we'll get things done

AMA Leader Commentary. By J. James Rohack, MD, Oct. 4, 2004.

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, J. James Rohack, MD.

On the AMA's 100th anniversary, the United States Postal Service commemorated the occasion with a stamp simply called "The Doctor." The stamp depicts a physician sitting at the home and bedside of a very sick child, looking down with a furrowed brow and compassionate gaze. The child's parents hover in the background, anxiously awaiting the doctor's verdict and advice.

Providing compassionate medical care has been the hallmark of the medical profession from its beginning. In the course of the last century, however, the delivery of medicine has been transformed as it has moved from the patient's home to the physician's office -- and the local hospital.

With the explosion of science in the 20th century, U.S. physicians increasingly found they could provide better care to their sickest patients in hospitals. Thanks to technological advances, hospitals offered physicians novel and better ways to diagnose and treat the sick. Physicians soon found that providing medical care in a hospital setting was crucial for the health and well-being of their patients.

But who would determine whether a given physician had the right to practice medicine in a hospital setting? In the early 20th century, county medical societies had boards of censors to provide physician peer review and to ensure professional standards. As a result, a physician who wanted to provide medical care in a local hospital had to be a member of the county medical society.

This county society, in turn, was part of the state medical society and the American Medical Association -- and each of these organizations used the AMA's Code of Medical Ethics to guide them. In this way, physicians and their ethical principles determined -- and enforced -- the professional standards of practice for medical staff.