All other medical professional organizations, including the AMA, are opposed to physician-assisted suicide, Jung acknowledges. Last year AMSA testified in front of the FDA in support of RU-486. The AMSA National Convention, which occurs each year in March, is a meeting during which resolutions are ratified by the House of Delegates. A resolution on any topic of concern to AMSA members can be presented, debated, and voted upon. Each chapter of AMSA, representing each of the 156 medical schools, can send a delegate to the House.
Most chapters have one vote, while larger chapters have two votes.
Before the convention, each delegate gets a copy of the resolutions. There is a debate in the House of Delegates which may influence the vote. AMSA's position on physician-assisted suicide was debated during the 1994 AMSA National Convention, according to Tucker, who is this year's speaker of the House of Delegates. The topic of physician-assisted suicide was initially brought before the House of Delegates during the 1993 convention, during which basic position statements in support were ratified. The principles and conditions of the AMSA policy were spelled out the following year.