Unionization of Doctors

Michael Ramirez’s June 27 cartoon was indeed unfortunate. Unionization of doctors is not about fee disputes between patients and physicians. Medicine has not been practiced that way in a long time. It may be about disputes between physicians and HMOs about whether a patient can get an operation. Unionization of doctors (unlike airline pilots) is not about strikes. Physicians want to be able to care for every patient and receive a fair compensation that meets their expenses, without incredible bureaucratic hassle in the process.

The conditions under which doctors work and the liability they assume would be considered intolerable and unacceptable by almost anyone else. Our lobbies are by no means the most highly funded. More and more we feel victimized by large, unfeeling corporations, and unlike the auto workers, or even nurses, we can do relatively little about it, certainly not as individuals in our offices.

The vote by AMA delegates last week regarding collective bargaining reflects building frustration in our profession that even the suggestion of concerted action in this area would put us at risk for imprisonment. The public has not benefited in the takeover of medicine by the bean counters and entrepreneurs.

GERARD W. FRANK MD

President

L.A. County Medical Assn.

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A doctor’s union is to patient welfare just as a teacher’s union is to student education. The advocates protest that it’s not about the money. The AMA bears the biggest burden for the current health care mess for decades of payoffs to the politicians.

DONALD J. FLYNN

Long Beach