As government reaches out to work with medicine, medicine can reach back.
Physicians recognize the importance of having a voice in government.
AMA spokesperson James Stacey thinks that doctors make sound, informed lawmakers. When you have someone who's had practical experience in health care, you have a wealth of information. He is pictured with his young patient Manuel in Lima, Peru. Dating back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, physicians have been a political presence in American government. Although today's numbers are not huge, with 2 physicians in the Senate and 11 in the House, they do reflect a growing trend of awareness and action in the medical world.