Medical Doctors Group takes Different Approach

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a group of medical doctors that has as a goal, "preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine." This group, founded in 1943, calls itself, "the Delta Force of private medicine". According to Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of AAPS, "The AAPS believes in the oath of Hippocrates and that the physician should work for his patient, not some third party,"

In an interview for the December 3, 2000 issue of the WorldNetDaily, Dr. Orient went on to say, "It is interesting that the 'do no harm' clause has been eliminated from the supposedly updated oaths," Orient noted. "We are seeing an inversion of medical ethics lately that is based on population ethics, in which physicians are being indoctrinated to believe that it is OK to sacrifice the individual to the good of the whole."

The AAPS takes many stands that are opposite to traditional medical associations such as the AMA. Some of these views include:

• Opposition to mandatory vaccinations
• Support of the principles of the free market in medical practice
• The belief that the patient-physician relationship must be protected from all forms of third-party intervention

The AAPS Patient Power newsletter sums up their positions by explaining to patients why their doctor is a member; "As a member of AAPS, your physician is one of the elite of the medical profession--those dedicated to the sanctity of the patient/physician relationship through the practice of private medicine. He has agreed to practice the art of medicine under uncompromising ethical principles: to treat you with the highest respect for your dignity and to protect your privacy and rights as a patient from intrusion by the government, insurance companies or HMOs." The AAPS web site can be viewed at, www.aapsonline.org .

Chiropractors have always supported the patients right to choose whatever type of healthcare they desired. For the longest time throughout the history of chiropractic patients were discouraged from seeing chiropractors by their medical doctors. It is good to see that a growing group of the medical profession is now in support of a patients right to choose and more in support of the patients rights.