As the American Medical Association opened its annual House of Delegates meeting in Chicago on Saturday, there was a foreshadowing of the tussle that likely will come over the coming days. The annual policy-making confab always has contentious debate; this year (and as it was last year), the Affordable Care Act stands as more of a dividing than a unifying element for the nation's physicians.
The AMA's president, Dr. Cecil Wilson, told the delegates in his opening speech that while others may pretend to speak for organized medicine, patients and lawmakers look to the AMA as the voice of organized medicine. Other professional societies can -- and have -- disagreed.
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