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<p>Changes to Medicare will give the feds control of surgical decisions.Changes to Medicare will give the feds control of surgical decisions.</p> <p>Democrats are touting the American Medical Association's endorsement of President Obama's health plan. But there's an important reason why the American College of Surgeons and 18 other specialty groups are opposed.</p>

Democrats are touting the American Medical Association's endorsement of President Obama's health plan. But there's an important reason why the American College of Surgeons and 18 other specialty groups are opposed. The plan's most tangible efforts to restrain medical costs are through its controls on specialist physicians. Based on the government's premise that they often make wasteful treatment decisions, the health-care legislation in Congress will subject doctors to a mix of financial penalties and regulations to constrain their use of the most costly clinical options. The penalties and regulations are aimed first and foremost at surgeons and the medical devices...

Afghan girls wait for medical treatment in the village of Zakuzi in the Zabul province of Afghanistan, Nov. 18, 2009. U.S. Army medical personnel and Afghan physicians are providing villagers assorted medical services during a civilian affairs patrol. Photographer's Name: TSgt. Efren Lopez Location: Zakuzi village Date Shot: 11/18/2009 Date Posted: 11/24/2009

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

Health Care: A government task force has decided that women need fewer mammograms and later in life. Shouldn't that be between patient and physician? We have seen the future of health care, and it doesn't work. We have warned repeatedly that the net results of health care bills before Congress will be higher demand, fewer doctors, more cost control, all leading to rationing. New recommendations issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) regarding breast cancer and the necessity for early and frequent mammograms do not convince us otherwise. Just six months ago, the panel, which works under the...

The American Medical Association leadership is spineless when it comes to the health reforms now before Congress. The organization has focused almost entirely on a single issue -- the repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which penalizes doctors a percentage every year if the total amount we're reimbursed exceeds government projections. The formula calls for a 21 percent across-the-board cut in our Medicare payments this year. The formula is absurd -- if it ever went into effect, doctors would flee Medicare, patients would revolt and Congress would have to reverse itself. All it does is force the AMA...

ATTENTION EVERYONE! The MillionMedMarch is Marching State by State. When: 12:00 PM Local Time, November 21, 2009 Where: All Major Cities A physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity and worth to the medical profession. That its sole mission is to protect the relationship between the doctor and the patient. For more information, go to: http://www.millionmedmarch.com/

Like many other doctors, I've been looking at my panel of patients and trying to decide whether a "public option" in health reforms will help them. Unfortunately, I can't think of a single patient where it will. As an internist, I have a varied practice, with patients ranging from rich to poor, from chronically ill to "worried well." On any given day, I see at least one quarter of cases (including Medicaid patients) without charge; one or two come in without insurance and pay me cash. Most of the time, I accept the patient's HMO or Medicare without looking closely...

(PDF Format) Free Congress Foundation Commentary The Major Incurable Disease – Tort Terror By Marion Edwyn Harrison, Esq. October 21, 2009 Unlike other countries, our Federal system and many of our State judicial systems encourage litigation against physicians and hospitals. The practice of medicine is almost unimaginatively sophisticated, as applicable knowledge continually becomes more complicated and more extensive.

WASHINGTON — Maneuvering to boost prospects for sweeping health care legislation, Senate Democrats hope first to win quick approval for a bill that grants doctors a $247 billion increase in Medicare fees over a decade but raises federal deficits in the process, officials said Wednesday. By creating a two-bill approach, Democrats intend to claim the more comprehensive health care measure meets President Barack Obama's conditions — that it will neither add to deficits nor exceed $900 billion in costs over 10 years. If approved and signed into law, the legislation would avert a 21 percent reduction in Medicare fees paid...

Details emerge of the scam job meeting on the White House lawn. Michelle Malkin tells Sean Hannity the greasy tactics of the Obama White House.

A Republican doctor-congressman mocked President Obama yesterday -- by waving his white lab coat in the air on the House floor as he lambasted a staged White House photo op with friendly doctors. Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey skewered the massive photo op on Monday -- highlighted in The Post yesterday -- in which White House staffers handed out white coats to physicians to visually show MD support for Obama's controversial health-care overhaul. Gingrey said a dozen GOP House doctors requested a meeting with Obama last month to discuss health care -- but got no response.

LIGHTS, camera, agitprop! The curtains opened on yet another artfully staged performance of ObamaCare Theater this week. On the plush lawn outside the West Wing, 150 doctors took their places. The president approved the scenery: "I am thrilled to have all of you here today, and you look very spiffy in your coats." White House wardrobe assistants guaranteed the "spiffy." As The Post's Charles Hurt reported yesterday, the physicians "were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image." Obama's aides hastily handed out costumes to those who came in suits or dresses...

Politics: The administration stages a photo-op with handpicked doctors who support its health care reform. Fortunately, most doctors still believe that the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. It would seem some doctors still make house calls. Some 150 of them made one at the White House Monday in an attempt to give a booster shot to the administration's chaotic and stalled health care reform drive. Rather than a grass-roots uprising of physicians, this was a classic case of AstroTurfing. Attendance was by invitation only, and 40 of the 150 were said to be members of Doctors...

Not only did the four doctors who flanked President Obama at his White House press event on Monday recommend his plan; three out of four of them donated to his presidential campaign. It could be an ad slogan to put the toothpaste marketers who like to brag that nine out of ten doctors recommend their brand to shame. The four doctors who stood and clapped along with Mr. Obama’s plans were Dr. Mona Mangat of St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Dr. Richard A. Evans of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and Dr. Amanda McKinney of Beatrice, Nebraska. Campaign finance...

Doctors from all 50 states come to support reform. White House Photo, Lawrence Jackson, 10/5/09 Love the lab coats. Adds just the right touch of staging, don't it? I actually first heard about this from a 6 year old I was driving to work, yesterday afternoon, after picking him up from his school along with his sister (I teach gymnastics, and they both take classes). He asked me why the president was with doctors (he must have seen this on tv at school, or something). I had no idea what he was referring to, but said it probably had to...

Is President Obama trying to score brownie points with the majority doctors out there? Ya just never know with the young president. One day you’re his enemy, the next day, your best friend. We’ve seen it all before. Today the president gathered doctors representing the AMA (and a variety of the medical organizations) to show how MDs support his health care plan. The lab coats are a nice touch, cause otherwise we would have to take his word for it that they are actually doctors. All style no substance.

OK, we all know Obama talked to a bunch of phony MD's in white smocks today but why would Drudge link this article (Doctor's Protest) on his website that's nearly a month old...dated 09-10?

U.S. President Barack Obama waves to doctors in attendance from across the country after making remarks on the need for health insurance reform in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES POLITICS HEALTH BUSINESS)

After World War II, the U.S. government invested an enormous amount of money in medicine; medical research, medical procedures and medical technologies. This investment made contemporary scientific medicine into American medicine, characterized by a continuing flow of new treatment possibilities. These advances raised all kinds of ethical questions. Some were personal and individual, others were social and political. Both type questions are addressed by a new academic discipline called bioethics. The first attempt to develop a scientific medicine took place in Greece in the 5th century B.C. It was called Hippocratic medicine. Closely linked with this first scientific medicine was...

Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 25, 2009 / 07:24 am (CNA).- The Mission Doctors Association will recognize a New York physician as the Catholic Doctor of 2009 for his significant volunteer work.The association will present its World of Difference Award to Michael A. Fitzgerald, M.D., at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ White Mass on October 18 at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, California.Dr. Fitzgerald, who is from Liverpool, New York, is being recognized for his commitment to his community, a Mission Doctors Association press release says. He is a volunteer with the Poverello Clinic, a free clinic for the uninsured,...

A physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity and worth to the medical profession. That its sole mission is to protect the relationship between the doctor and the patient... The MillionMedMarch will follow in October to remind our elected officials that we intend to keep coming back to Washington and keep marching until the doctors and the patients are the focus of the healthcare reform. We will be joined by the Docs4PatientCare group as well as others that will be coming from all across the US. Please join us on October 1 in DC and don't forget to sign the...

Physicians Are Talking About: The Million Med March on Washington "I'm tired, mad as hell, and just not going to take it anymore," says Richard Chudacoff, MD, a gynecologist from Las Vegas. "I am going to Washington, DC. At noon, on Thursday, October 1, 2009, I will be on the Mall with a few other physicians." Dr. Chudacoff is not talking about vacation plans. Rather, he intends to unite with other physicians in what he calls the Million Med March. "We simply decided that we will not work that day and perhaps the day before and maybe even the day...

Litigation: The Founding Fathers envisioned the states as laboratories for ideas and choices. If the administration needs a demonstration project for successful tort reform, it need look no further than Mississippi. When President Obama said during his health care speech to Congress that he would "look into" malpractice reform and support "demonstration projects" at the state level, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Republican, responded: "If they want a demonstration project, come down to Mississippi. I'll show you a demonstration project." Mississippi enacted tort reform in 2004, including caps on medical malpractice awards. As a result, the number of medical...

One of the criticisms of Obamacare is how will doctors be able to handle the extra patients if all of a sudden all the uninsured become part of their case load. If he new study of doctors performed by IBD is to be believed, the problem will be worse than originally thought, as 45% of all doctors will consider leaving the profession if Obamacare is passed in its present form (take that American Medical Association). More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, the government says. Projecting the poll's finding onto that population, 360,000 doctors would consider quitting. YIKES, forget...

As the state’s shortage of primary care doctors grows, people are waiting longer for medical care, according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society. “The shortage is getting more severe,” said Dr. Mario Motta, the medical society’s president. The state’s health care dilemma can serve as a valuable lesson for a nation whose residents are locked in a frenzied debate about health care reform, he added.

An IBD/TIPP poll found that two out of three physicians oppose the overhaul plan that congress is working on. The kicker though is that hundreds of thousands would consider closing their doors or retire early if the plan were to pass. In 2006 there were some 800,000 doctors. 45% would be about 360,000. Scary huh?

Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.Health Costs: Lawyers are responsible for more unneeded procedures than "greedy" doctors. But instead of capping malpractice awards, bureaucrats will soon decide which treatments are OK and whether you're worth it.

about 40 percent of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in America were without merit. Eighty percent of physicians cite fear of being sued in their decisions to practice defensive medicine. If we want to try to make health care more affordable, we can't leave tort reform out of the equation... In the 24 U.S. States with tort reform, their insurance rates have dropped 27 percent in the past five years, and some 15,000 doctors have returned to practice in Texas alone.

President Obama has promised to pay for health care reform mostly by ridding the system of wasteful spending. The message is that reform will be painless: We're cutting the fat, not the meat. But what if your paycheck is part of the fat? More to the point: Does cutting back on wasteful health care spending mean that doctors will make less money? Actually, let's split that question in two. The first is whether U.S. doctors are overpaid. The second is whether paying them less would save all that much. The answers, respectively: yes and no. There's no question that doctors...

On September 10, 2009, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals came to Washington, D.C. from across the country to show their opposition to Obamacare. This rally exploded the government-created myth that there is unanimity amongst health care professionals for Democrat plans to take over health care. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons came to D.C. to present a petition from doctors to lawmakers. The AAPS has been a voice for private physicians since 1943. Their motto is omnia pro aegroto, “all for the patient”. The doctors met with the representatives from their respective states and argued for a platform...

My sister just reported back to me from the doctors' rally in DC this evening. She went with her husband and 3 teenaged daughters. Here is what she reported: It was a great, well-behaved crowd of about 1000 -- mostly doctors and some nurses. They came from across the country and all sorts of practices. She said the speakers were just folks ... that they did not appear to be professional speakers. They were just doctors, speaking from the heart. They told of personal experiences of government interference in individual care and practices and the consequences. There were a couple...

Below is the full text (as prepared) of tonights Republican address on health care, delivered by Dr. Charles Boustany (R-LA) following President Obamas speech to a Joint Session of Congress

EXHAUSTED doctors have confessed to killing and harming patients, falling asleep during surgery and crashing their cars because of marathon shifts. The public hospital medicos claim to be so tired on the job that they are working "like drunks". More than 100 doctors vented guilt and anger in a confidential Queensland survey. Almost 60 per cent admitted to fatigue-induced errors while performing procedures.

New information has surfaced regarding euthanization of elderly patients at a New Orleans hospital during Hurricane Katrina. A doctor has admitted administering a lethal dose of morphine to one patient knowing that it would kill her. "There's no question I hastened her demise," Dr. Ewing Cook told an independent investigation organization. "I gave her medicine so I could get rid of her faster, get the nurses off the [hospital] floor." The patient, Jannie Burgess, 79, was suffering from uterine cancer and kidney failure. "To me, it was a no-brainer -- and to this day I don't feel bad about...

Health Care Reform: A study by the British Patients Association tells the true story about socialized medicine in Britain. It's one of willful and woeful neglect of millions, missed diagnoses, and elderly patients left in pain.BD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For FailureWhile reading this disturbing analysis of the pitiful state of medical care in Britain in the Daily Telegraph, the Vincent Price horror classic "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" came to mind. Price portrayed a man who used bizarre methods to dispatch his victims. The abominable British National Health Service, based on this report, is only slightly better. The...

Practicing US physicians uniting to represent the interests and concerns of both, patients and doctors in the healthcare reform debate. D4PC endorses the concept of needed healthcare reform, but we recognize it can only be accomplished by proceeding in a cautious and responsible manner. Our recommendations will enable us to reach this goal without requiring the nationalization of the entire American healthcare system. Docs4PatientCare Proposed Alternatives For Effective Healthcare Reform: There is no logical reason to hastily pass this legislation by a predetermined deadline. We have one chance to get this right. Bring "all" stakeholders together to help assure a...

Reform: If Massachusetts is any guide, the passage of ObamaCare is almost certain to increase demand and worsen the shortage of doctors. Access to health care doesn't mean much if there's no doctor to provide it.Suppose health care reform passes and all are insured, by force or otherwise. The U.S. will be short 124,400 front-line physicians by 2025, according to the Association of Medical Colleges. That does not include the 15,585 new primary-care providers the administration plan is estimated to require. The Massachusetts reforms enacted in 2006, designed to provide universal coverage, provide an insight into what we might expect...

SEQUIM -- Health care reform will take center stage in a public meeting Tuesday as a group of Oregon physicians calling themselves "Mad As Hell Doctors" will promote universal health care and discuss the current proposals for reform. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Sequim High School Auditorium, 601 N. Sequim Ave. "We have, for the first time, a group of physicians that is stepping forward in this moment of total confusion and fear that's been fomented on the health care issue," said Bill Kildall, coordinator of Reform Health Care Now, which is sponsoring the event. "These doctors...

This letter is from Dr. Zane Pollard. His ophthalmology training was at Emory with my husband. He now operates at Children’s Health Care of Atlanta. Friends: I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table and as your friend by explaining many of the problems from the aspect of a doctor. First off the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate.While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital...

Just now on FOX the doctor who's in a tussle with Rep. Scott from GA-13 said at a townhall meeting, where they were on the stage together, that only 29% of doctors in the US are represented by the AMA.

Is all this about health care, or is it really about ruling us by holding the power of life and death over our heads? Are those who are striving to do these things supporters of the Constitution, or do they want to abolish the Constitution − but under the guise of “caring” for people? Are they friends who want to use different methods, or domestic enemies who want to achieve different goals? Legally, I was relieved from the Oath of Allegiance when I was discharged from the service. But morally, I still believe myself bound by it. I feel an...

Should Obama have a plan to help with the ever increasing number of Doctors struggling with Stress and Obesity in America?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama often talks about all of the forces lining up against his health care plan. But there's one critic who has remained relatively mum in the debate. Dr. David Scheiner was President Obama's personal physician for 22 years. 1 of 2 David Scheiner, a Chicago, Illinois-based doctor, has taken a hard look at the president's prescription for health care reform and sees bad medicine. "This isn't that kind of health care program that I think is going to work," he said. So what makes Scheiner so special? He was Obama's personal physician for 22 years, and...

If the House of Representatives passes the health-care bill approved by the Ways and Means and Education committees, midwives--who sometimes deliver babies in place of doctors--will receive the same level of government reimbursement as obstetricians. Section 1304 of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200) would raise government Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for certified nurse midwives to the same level as the reimbursement for doctors who perform the same services. Under current law, midwives only receive 65 percent of what a doctor receives for equal services. Originally introduced in February as the “Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Act...

According to the AMA, in many communities around the United States, there is a physician shortage, which presents a serious health care problem. For a host of reasons, more than twenty million people are affected by the inability to access quality medical services. While the premise of a popular television show, “Northern Exposure,” alluded to this very predicament some time ago, most viewers were likelier caught up in the relationships between the quirky inhabitants of Cicely, Alaska instead of pondering the very real implications for those without access to a qualified doctor.1 Similar to the circumstances in which the main...

Health Reform: If Democrats in Washington think their health care reform with a public option is a good thing, why have they exempted themselves from it? Why isn't what's good for their constituents good for them?During ABC's June 24 infomercial for government-run health care broadcast from the White House, President Obama was asked if he and his family would abide by the restrictions and limitations that came with his proposed reforms. In what Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com called "Obama's Michael Dukakis moment," President Obama refused to make such a pledge and confessed that if "it's my family member, if it's...

Ghoulish, unethical, profit-seeking quacks would say that, though, wouldn’t they? Let’s see what they think once they’ve got a community organizer with four years of federal policy experience riding herd on them. There’s a new sheriff in town, bloodsuckers!

WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior administration official says billions of dollars to raise fees for doctors treating Medicare patients are not covered by President Barack Obama's pledge to pay for health care legislation. Budget Director Peter Orszag said Tuesday that's because the administration always assumed the money would be spent to prevent a cut of more than 20 percent in doctor fees.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior administration official says billions of dollars to raise fees for doctors treating Medicare patients are not covered by President Barack Obama's pledge to pay for health care legislation. Budget Director Peter Orszag said Tuesday that's because the administration always assumed the money would be spent to prevent a cut of more than 20 percent in doctor fees. The Congressional Budget Office said last Friday the higher payments cost $245 billion over 10 years. It said including the money in the overall bill would result in deficits totaling $239 billion. On Friday, a few hours earlier,...