A.M.A. Convicted

Last week in Washington the American Medical Association, which has long been fighting group health schemes, got a stiff left jab to the solar plexus; the arm behind the punch was the Federal Government's. After legal proceedings lasting two and a half years, the Association, and its Washington branch, were convicted by a Federal District Court of violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.*

In 1937, a group of 2,500 Federal employes borrowed $40,000 from the Home Owners' Loan Corp., set up a health insurance plan, hired a staff of doctors. Members of Group Health Association, Inc. paid a fee of less than $50 a year per family, for which they received medical care and hospitalization. The A.M.A. and the District Medical Society forbade members to act as consultants in Group Health cases, closed their approved hospitals to G.H.A. doctors, even though they were all reputable men.

In court last week, Government Prosecutor John Henry Lewin raked over some smoldering testimony. Samples:

>A man with acute appendicitis who was rushed to a hospital in the dead of night was refused the services of his own G.H.A doctor, forced to take another on the hospital staff.

>A young woman who belonged to G.H.A was taken to a hospital for operation given a stiff dose of morphine. Four hours later, "stupefied and nauseated," she left the hospital because her doctor was not allowed to operate there.

>An elderly G.H.A. member who was run over and taken to a hospital was not allowed her own doctor, had to leave.

To all this, Defense Attorney William Edward Leahy's* answer was that the A.M.A. was not opposed to the principle of health insurance, but fought G.H.A. because it was "conducted inefficiently."

The original Government suit was also filed against Drs. Morris Fishbein, editor of the A.M.A. Journal, Manager Olin West, a number of other executives. After deliberating twelve hours, the jury acquitted the doctors, but convicted the A.M.A. and its Washington branch. At week's end, sentence had not yet been imposed on the organizations; they face a maximum fine of $5,000 each. Editor Fishbein and Manager West, who plan to carry the case to a court of appeals, made no comment on the verdict, said merely that the A.M.A. "will continue to do its utmost for ... public health."

*The same evening the verdict was announced, Dr. Louis S. Reed, senior economist of the U. S. Public Health Service, came out publicly for Government-sponsored health insurance. *No kin to Ambassador to France Admiral William D. Leahy.

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