The AMA

                                                 








"Founding of the American Medical Association"
 By Robert A. Thom. This was painted in 1961
and is a representation of what the first meeting
of the AMA would have looked like.

AMA code of medical Ethics


Nathaniel Chapman, first president of the AMA


Journal of American Medical Association Cover


1889 AMA meeting








Emergence of Professionalism
I used this source to gain knowledge of how the professionalism of the medical profession began. I believe that the author of this article, Judy Duchan, is a credible person because this article was published by a college. This source is also a edu source which alone does not vouch for the reliability of the source, but contributes to it.

History of the AMA
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Early years of AMA
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The Forming of the AMA
I used this source to find the picture of the first AMA meeting. I also used this source to learn about who the first president was and who had the idea to form the AMA. I believe that this is a reputable source because it comes from the AMA official website.

Nathaniel Chapman
I used this source to learn more information about Nathaniel Chapman, first president of the AMA, and his life and qualifications for being the president. I believe this is a reputable source because it is a .org.

Timeline of AMA History
I used this source to understand the timeline of when the events in the AMA occurred. I believe this is a reputable source because it comes directly form the AMA.

Textbook
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Fishbein Scam
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Before the creation of the AMA (American Medical Association), there were no regulations on who could call themselves a physician. Physicians ranged from individuals offering homemade remedies to people who attended a qualified institution practicing the most innovational medical tactics of their time. It was obvious that a change was needed. Through communication and collaboration the formation of the AMA transformed the medical world allowing it to become what it is today.

Dr. Nathaniel Davis is credited with the formation of the AMA. In 1845 Dr. Davis called for a National Medical Convention, which inevitably led to the creation of the AMA. Without Dr. Davis’s initiative and communication to the individuals who believed they were qualified physicians the AMA would not have been formed, and the medical care that we are able to receive today would most likely be non-existent. In 1901, Two-hundred and fifty delegates from twenty-eight states attended the meeting at The Hall of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At this meeting Dr. Nathaniel Chapmen was elected as the first president of the AMA. When Dr. Chapmen was elected he had already acquired a very impressive resume in the Medical world. Dr. Chapmen graduate from The Alexandria Academy at the age of fifteen at which time he began his apprenticeship in Maryland. In 1803 Dr. Davis was appointed to two prestigious positions, chair of the theory and practice of medicine and chair of material medica at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1857 Dr. Davis founded The Medical Institute of Philadelphia. All of these qualifications made Dr. Davis the perfect candidate for president, which allowed him to radically change the way America viewed Medicine.

One of the first issues that the AMA prioritized was the matter of what pre-requisites were required to call one’s self a physician. Before pre-requisites were established, anyone had the ability to call themselves a physician. This caused a lack of respect and a certain amount of distrust for the profession. In 1904 the AMA decided that it was necessary for a qualified physician to have completed four years of high school, four years medical training, and pass a licensing test. By 1920 nearly two thirds of all doctors had acquired these requirements and become part of the AMA.

Another issue that the AMA needed to deal with was educating the public on quack and home remedies. In 1849, they created a committee to analyze these remedies and then educate the public on the nature and danger on them. The AMA had already decided to deem these remedies illegal for physicians to use. To ensure that no physicians continued to use the now illegal the AMA created a DOI (Department of Investigation). Unfortunately this department soon became known as the “thug department” by many Americans.  At the head of this department was Morris Fishbein, a criminal and extortionist. In order for anyone to receive the acceptance from the AMA for their practice they must pay Mr. Fishbein a large sum of money. If a physician was not able to afford these costs they had no hope of surviving in the medical world.

                Another idea that the AMA addressed was ways to educate the common public on the issues at hand and the latest medical innovations. So in 1822 the AMA founded the Journal of the American Medical Association. After the creation of their first magazine the amount of publications that they produced kept increasing. In 1906  the AMA published its first directory of qualified medical schools. In 1919 they created the Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. The next year the Archives of Surgery were created. Today the number of publications has only increased, allowing the AMA to adequately communicate to the public about new medical findings, risks of certain medicines, and qualified medical schools.

                Without the creation of the AMA the medical profession would not be anywhere near where it is today. We would not have a set of qualifications for physician causing many to be eerie of physicians in general, and would not have as high of quality of treatment as we receive today. Through the AMA the medical profession was renovated into a program that allowed it to grow into what it is today.