Louisiana G. P.

Family doctors do not enjoy as much prestige (or get such high fees) as surgeons or other specialists. Thinking that an organization of their own might add to the professional luster of family doctors, the American Medical Association last year voted to organize the American Academy of General Practice.*

To get the A.A.G.P. started, the delegates picked Louisiana's tall (6 ft. 2 in.), Texas-born Dr. Jason Poland Sanders. Like most Texans, he has no inferiority complex. Says he: "I never feel I have to apologize to any specialist. A man may know brain surgery, but I know more about feeding babies." Back home, Dr. Sanders, a greying 54, hustled to get his state's organization started fast. He knew the family doctor's problems. For 21 years he had been a general practitioner in Caspiana (pop. 265) and in Shreveport, where he runs the Sanders Clinic. Within 40 days he had organized Louisiana's A.A.G.P., with himself as president. Last week, Louisiana's chapter of the A.A.G.P. was the first to hold a scientific meeting. President Sanders invited the 240 members to Alexandria to discuss "practical scientific subjects, not hifalutin brain surgery." Sample: Dr. D. G. Miller, who holds the country's first chair of general practice (at the University of Louisville, Ky.), warned that the most serious and most easily prevented mistake in obstetrics is "impatience and consequent meddlesome procedure."

* Qualifications: members must have been general practitioners for at least three years, be willing to spend at least 150 hours in postgraduate work every three years.

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