AMA Delegates Adopt Product Endorsement Ban

Doctors angry over the American Medical Assn.’s deal to lend its name to Sunbeam Corp. on Tuesday approved a ban on AMA endorsements of products the group doesn’t produce.

The organization’s house of delegates also agreed to appoint a committee to investigate how the Sunbeam deal slipped through, apparently without approval from the board of trustees.

“The AMA is against product endorsement, and this organization has made a move to make sure everyone knows that,” said Dr. Thomas Reardon, chairman of the board.

The committee will investigate all aspects of the Sunbeam affair as a way to restore faith in the AMA’s integrity, said Dr. Ralph E. Schlossman, chairman of a panel that brought the resolutions to the floor of the organization’s biennial conference in Dallas.

In August, a five-year deal was announced in which the AMA would give a “seal of approval” to humidifiers, blood pressure monitors and other Sunbeam home-care products. Under the exclusive arrangement, the AMA was to receive millions of dollars in royalties, though it had no plans to test the products.

The AMA, which had steered clear of large endorsement deals until the one with Sunbeam, announced a week later that it was backing out of the much-criticized arrangement. Sunbeam then sued for $20 million.

The AMA has been reluctant to discuss how the deal came about because of the pending lawsuit. Three executives were fired, and Dr. P. John Seward, the group’s executive vice president, resigned last week after accepting partial responsibility for the contract.