THE MEDICAL SERF AND ORGANIZED MEDICINE
COERCION of doctors into tribute is the secret of the present malevolent power of organized medicine. No attempt is made to mask this coer- cion. Thus, the Special Committee on New Members of the New York County Medical Society made the following report, in 1933, published in the Medical Week of February 10, 1934:
“2. That membership in the County Medical Society be made more desirable to the younger men, so that they will find it advantageous to join, instead of being coerced into joining.”
But the Committee proceeded to recommend a new method of coercion •
“3. That the efforts of the Special Committee on Hospitals and Dis- pensaries be enlisted in the approach to hospitals for having mem- bership in the County Medical Society a prerequisite for staff positions.”
In this manner the fondest dreams of “Doc” Simmons have been fulfilled by his heirs.
COERCION SUPPORTED BY LA W
The law has created for organized medicine many methods of coercion of the medical profession. In this both Federal and State governments have collaborated. The states have given the State Medical Societies direct or indirect control over medical licensure once again.
The Federal government, through the Emergency Relief Administration, delegated to committees representing the county medical societies its authority to appoint needy and destitute physicians to Relief rolls. These committees led the profession to understand that appointments might not be forth- coming to non-member physicians.
Another coercive measure is an amendment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act passed by the New York State Legislature in 1935. This amendment, which is clearly unconstitutional, restricts the injured in the choice of physician w a panel drawn up by the county medical societies.
The City and State of New York have created such coercive devices as the following:
The Commissioner of Hospitals of New York City, Dr. Goldwater, has made it a rule that the privilege of the use of the facilities of hospitals and appointments to hospital staffs shall be denied the physicians who are not members of the New York county medical societies. Thus the hospital facilities provided by the community for its ill have beenprostituted to organized medicine.
In an act providing for the licensing of nurses, physicians who are not members of the New York State Medical Society were barred from signing affidavits that nurses must obtain from physicians to secure their licenses.
A regulation issued by Commissioner of Police Valentine of New York City in 1939, extended the right of parking autos in areas forbidden to all others, to the members of the New York State Medical Society and of kindred organizations. This means that only physicians who paid tribute to those organizations would be granted the privilege of rapidly reaching the bedside of patients in the forbidden areas.
Most perfect is the method of coercion given the Societies under the law passed by New York Legislature in 1939 permitting the formation of “non-profit” medical indemnity corporations. The regulations established for the administration of the law by the State Welfare and Insurance Departments give the societies the privilege of ousting physicians from the panel of those eligible, on any pretext that they devise. A more perfect set-up for the rackets of organized medicine could hardly be conceived – it will hold the profession’s purse strings and extract and extort what it wills.
The medical societies are taking full advantage of these laws and regulations in coercing physicians to join their ranks and do their bidding.
EXTORTION AND INTIMIDA TION PRACTICED
Among the physicians who thus are being coerced and subjected to the extortion of the twenty dollars, or more, membership dues of the countymedical societies are the poorest members of the profession. They are the physicians who are forced by circumstances to seek Relief; who are forced to content themselves with the absurdly meagre fees allowed for Workmen’s Compensation work.
In order to become eligible for even these meagre fees, the New York County Medical Society has demanded of its members that they sign away such constitutional rights as the right of “privileged communication” which the law has provided to protect the interests of the patient, and the right to recover damages for injuries sustained as a result of any action of the Society.
Members also are compelled, on joining, to sign away their freedom of speech and publication. Non-members are robbed of these rights by a conspiracy between organized medicine and the press. The organization is an autocracy that reduces the individual physician to the status of a pawn and flaunts the law with impunity.
Some of these laws and regulations not only offer stigma and affront to physicians who refuse to join the Society, but also violates the State constitution by illegal delegation of power; for the Constitution provides that the power to confer the rights and prerogatives of the practice of medicine belong to the State Department of Education.
The discriminatory rights and privileges extended to the New York State Medical Society, a private membership corporation, exceed the power of the State itself. It eloquently bespeaks the impotence of the individual members of the profession and of the State itself against organized medicine, that these laws have not been challenged successfully in the courts, in spite of their obvious unconstitutionality.
This situation gravely concerns everyone who is subject to human ills. Let us stop and ask ourselves:
“What is the meaning of this coercion of a group of supposedly intelligent men who are licensed to practice medicine by the State, into a membership corporation whose charter states that it is primarily organized for the purpose of protecting the interests of its members?”
Obviously it does not even do that; for if it did, it would not find it necessary to coerce the profession into membership.
STRUCTURE OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIA TION
Organized medicine makes its bow to the nation under the banners of the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons and local academies of medicine. Because of the coercive laws and regulations, tens of thousands of physicians have been forced to join the A. M. A. Its membership comprises about 116,000 physicians, or three quarters of the profession, making it the largest medical organization in the country.
The American Medical Association is built up of local county, district and state medical societies that are interlocked by officership and directorate with each other and with the national Association. Dues paid by the members of the county societies filter {up} into the larger units and finance them.
The county medical society is the cornerstone. It is a membership corporation. The qualifications for membership are a medical degree, the payment of annual dues, and the willingness of the officers of the organization to accept the member and his dues. Inasmuch as there is little reluctance in accepting dues, it is the dues which, as a rule, are the primary qualifications for membership. Neither competence nor reputability are signified by membership. On the contrary, the less reputable physicians invariably join to shield their malefactions.
NEW YORK COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
The New York County Medical Society might be studied as a typical example of these societies. The sole privilege accorded to a member-at-large of the Society is the privilege of paying dues and of attending meetings. The latter is seldom exercised because little or nothing of scientific value generally is heard at the meetings, which cannot be found in the older textbooks and literature.
The presentation of papers before the Society is regarded by its bosses as a mode of advertisement; or as a device for securing political advantages from other units of the organization. Presenters of papers are chosen chiefly for political and commercial reasons, not for scientific.
The rarity of presentation of new discoveries, the officers of the Society justify on the ground that “the scientific preparation and level of intelligence of the membership is too low to permit understanding of new scientific discoveries.” The true reason is the fear of the bosses that their reputations as authorities and their practices might be endangered by discoveries.
Even discussion, if any is permitted, is limited to members of a clique