Gary Poster, with essential assists from Galyn Norwood, Phiroon Phihakendr, Jose Quijada, Pavandeep Kalra. Many physicians, including A.M.A. members, also weighed in with harsh diagnoses. The flap comes at a time when the A.M.A. least needs it. Once it commanded virtually unchallenged respect. Today its power, despite a membership of 300,000, is greatly diminished from its heyday in the 1960s, when it had enough clout on Capitol Hill to dictate substantial changes in Medicare laws.
Many younger physicians find the organization simply irrelevant.
Perhaps indicative of how out of touch the A.M.A. is was its surprised reaction to the furor that the Sunbeam deal provoked. Our intentions are exceptionally honorable. Maybe so, but the A.M.A. might have found it instructive to do a case history. Then there is the more recent experience of the American Heart Association. The American Cancer Society stirred less controversy last year when it entered an exclusive deal with the Florida Orange Growers Association.