OPINIONStrength of organized medicine is in our unityAMA Leader Commentary. By Cecil B. Wilson, MD, July 3, 2006. A message to all AMA members from the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, Cecil B. Wilson, MD. Independence Day serves to remind us every year of the freedoms we share and of the responsibilities that freedom brings. Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are bedrock liberties upon which any voluntary association is built. And with those freedoms, each of us in an organization of like-minded individuals bears a responsibility for good citizenship. The American Medical Association House of Delegates is a body of diverse views, opinions, aspirations and objectives. Its purpose is to combine single members, state organizations and specialty societies in a unified voice speaking for America's physicians and the patients they serve. We agree to disagree. But in a larger sense, we disagree in order to agree. Once decisions are made, the unified voice of medicine can speak with an authority no other organization in America can claim. We are uncommonly successful, as our 159-year history testifies. But this year, as with each year in the past, we need to remind ourselves of the source of that success. In a word, unity. It is the elemental force in all successful efforts, from nations and armies to families and communities that work together in common cause. As a corollary, of course, those who fail to work together cannot succeed. Working together in the AMA involves the give-and-take of argument in pursuit of a common goal as we hammer out important policies and practices, and bring them to a vote. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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