UPDATE – 11/8/2009 (SEE VIDEO & PHOTOS FROM SHOUT-OUT BELOW)
In downtown Houston on 11/7/2009, outside the AMA meeting, about 150 people chanted, yelled, and talked for almost 2 hours and 3 television stations came out to report on the event. David McKalip, M.D. took a break from the AMA meeting and spoke to the assembled crowd. The AMA staff was on lookout through park for the hour or so beforehand checking out what we were up to.
The one casualty of the rally was our Take Back Medicine sign, which mysteriously disappeared from the tree it was attached to.
Stay tuned…
Hear the crowd shout “Kill the Bill” to the AMA Delgates inside the convention center across the street.
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Report from AAPS Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Kathryn Serkes, on the ground in Houston at the AMA meeting:
The AMA has security posted at entrances to Convention Center, so public will NOT be allowed access to the facility.
Our “shout out” at the AMA meeting here in Houston is set for later this afternoon. AMA could vote on emergency resolution to rescind the support of HR 3962. The resolution may be considered later today!
November 7
For immediate release:
AMA Has Chance to Rescind Support of HR 3962;
AMA Shout -out from public urges doctors to answer to PATIENTS not AMA leadership
HOUSTON, TX – Members of the AMA are trying a last-minute tactic to introduce an emergency resolution rescinding the AMA’s support of HR 3962.
“We want to remind physicians that they are responsible to their PATIENTS, not the leadership of the AMA,” said Kathryn Serkes, Director of Policy for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, and Take Back Medicine, a coalition of other medical groups.
“If the AMA leadership ignores the public — their patients–it will set us back to the old days ‘Doctor knows best’ when patients were supposed to keep their mouths shut and do what the doctor ordered.”
This week, Take Back Medicine called for a public “Shout Out” at the AMA meeting, with doctors and patients to arrive with the Tea Party Express bus in a caravan following their rally at the Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
Nov 7, Approximately 1:30pm – 2pm
Tea Party Express Bus leaves Sam Houston Race Park leading caravan to
George R. Brown Convention Center, downtown Houston
Will hold public “Shout-out” at AMA Houston meeting on Saturday, including Tea Party protestors
Houston, TX – The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) blasted the AMA for again publicly endorsing the massive Democrat healthcare reform bill in Congress.
“The AMA has sold out patients, and sold out the profession of medicine for a few dollars of Medicare money,” said Ms. Serkes. “In July they endorsed HR 3200 and took a lot of heat and lost members in droves. “With the endorsement of HR 3962, it’s now painfully clear the AMA does not represent it membership.”
A large public demonstration has been organized by physician coalition “Take Back Medicine” on Saturday in Houston. After speaking at the Tea Party Express at the Sam Houston Raceway, AAPS Director Juliette Madrigal-Dersch, M.D. of Marble Falls, TX, and Kathryn Serkes, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, will ride the Tea Party Express bus, leading a caravan grassroots activists to join protesting doctors at the AMA meeting (Brown Convention Center – Downtown Houston).
“They have one last chance to rescind this endorsement,” said Serkes. “If they don’t, the damage with the medical community will never be healed.”
Saturday Schedule:
(Doctors wear your white coats/scrubs. Bring signs!)
11:30 AM – Tea Party Express Rally, Sam Houston Race Park, 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, Houston, TX
Approximately 1:30 pm – Caravan to AMA meeting at Brown Convention Center – Downtown Houston immediately after TPE rally
Approximately 2 pm – Arrival at Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
++YOUR STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CLICK HERE FOR LIST)
++AND LEAVE MESSAGE:
“Doctors — please support PATIENTS, not AMA leadership. NO on HR 3962.”
AMA main office in Chicago: (800) 621-8335 and service.followup@ama-assn.org
Additional AMA contact information, including email addresses, can be found here:
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=322
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Read the AMA letter of support to Nancy Pelosi – CLICK HERE
Read the AMA Press Release of November 5 – CLICK HERE
& Give us your comments below!
(in “Reader Comments” area)
