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.It was begun in 1883 bythis Association, and.shall be considered a disqualification forDr.Simmons as a last-ditch effort to save the infant associationelection to any office in the gift of this Association.from bankruptcy.Its first press run was 3,500 copies and sold at aIt is through tactics like these that the AMA perpetuatessubscription rate of five dollars per year.But it was anticipateddictatorial control over its members while wearing the mask ofthat the bulk of the revenue would be derived from advertisers.democratic response to the will of the majority.By 1973, under the tight control of Managing Editor Dr.MorrisNot all physicians are blind to these facts.The AMA dictator-Fishbein, it had a print run of almost 200,000 copies each monthship was pointed out as long ago as 1922 in the December issue ofand had extended its publication list to include twelve separatethe Illinois Medical Journal, the house organ of the Illinois Medicaljournals including the layman's monthly, Today's Health.(1)Society.In a scathing article entitled "The AMA Becomes AnAltogether the AMA now derives over ten million dollars perAutocracy," the journal charged that the AMA had become ayear in advertising, which is almost half of the Association's totaldictatorship organization run by one man, that it had ignored theincome.democratic will of the membership, that it concerned itself withWho advertises in the AMA Journal and related publications?building a financial empire to benefit those who control it, andThe lion's share is derived from the Pharmaceutical Manufac-that it does not serve the doctors who support it with their duesturer's Association whose members make up ninety-five percentand reputations.of the American drug industry.Since 1922 the state medical journals have become financiallyMorris Fishbein became a lot more to the AMA than his title ofinterlocked with the AMA Journal, so there no longer is anyManaging Editor would suggest.He was its chief executive andpossibility of publishing such harsh views.But the discontentbusiness manager.He brought in the money and he decided howcontinues.Doctors may not realize exactly who controls the AMAit was spent.His investments on behalf of the Association wereor why, but they increasingly are becoming aware that theextremely profitable, so the grateful membership could not, or atorganization does not represent them.By 1969, the AMA member-least dared not, complain too bitterly.One of the reasons for thisship had stopped growing, and by 1970, it actually had declined.investment success was that over ten-million dollars of theBy 1971, less than half of all physicians in the United States wereorganization's retirement fund had been put into leading drugpaying dues.companies.(2)If AMA members or delegates do not control their organiza-In later years, much of the executive control of the AMA wastion, then who does? Who constitutes this "dictatorship" to whichwielded by Joe Miller, the Assistant Executive Vice President.the Illinois Medical Journal has referred?Formerly an administrator of the government health program forThe structure and operating procedures of the AMA wereKentucky and an influential associate of the Lyndonwell conceived to put total control of that organization into theJohnson-Bobby Baker group, Miller is viewed by many as a manhands of the one man who occupies the chief full-time staffposition.Although supposedly hired by the AMA as its1.This magazine has been particularly vicious in its attack against vitamin B17employee, actually he is beyond reach of the general membershipcancer therapy.See "The Pain Exploiters; The Victimizing of Desperate CancerPatients," Today's Health, Nov., 1973, p.28.because of his inside knowledge, his ability to devote unlimited2."AMA Says It Owns $10 Million in Drug Shares," (UPI), News Chronicletime to the task, and his powerful influence in the selection of(Calif.), June 27,1973, p.4.members of the self-perpetuating Board of Trustees.But he holds 274 WORLD WITHOUT CANCER: Part Two HE WHO CALLS THE TUNE 275who is devoid of political ideology, merely playing his role for "reviewing" the professional activities of all doctors in the Unitedwhatever personal gain he can derive.As such, he was a perfect States.The men on these boards are to be doctors, but they will bechoice for the pharmaceutical cartel with its extensive financial selected or approved by the government and they must followstandards set down by government agencies.These governmentsupport of AMA programs.Either way, the success of the AMAboards are authorized to compel all doctors to standardize theirand those who direct it depends on the prosperity and good willprocedures, treatments and prescriptions, to conform with thoseof the pharmaceutical industry.federal standards.All previously confidential patient records areItem: In 1972 the AMA's Council on Drugs completed anto be available to the government for inspection.Doctors who doexhaustive study of most of the commonly available compoundsnot comply can be suspended from practice.then in general use.The long awaited evaluation hit like anThis scheme was drafted by the AMA Legal Department,unexpected bomb.The Council reported that some of the mostsubmitted to Congress as part of its "Medicredit" bill, and neverprofitable drugs on pharmacy shelves were "irrational" and thatapproved by the AMA House of Delegates or its membership.they could not be recommended.And to add insult to injury, theThere are many more equally revealing items, but time andchairman and vice-chairman of the Council stated before a Senatespace call us back to our point of departure.The foundations andsubcommittee that the large income derived from the variousthe financial-industrial forces behind them have performed adrug manufacturers had made the AMA "a captive arm andgreat service in helping to elevate the American medical profes-beholden to the pharmaceutical industry." The AMA respondedsion above the relatively low level of prestige and technicalby abolishing its Council on Drugs.The reason given was "ancompetence it endured in 1910.It is probable, however, that theeconomy move."(1)profession, in time, would have done so by itself, and it is certainItem: AMA spokesman, Dr.David B [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]