American Medical Association

Twenty-six percent of U.S. children ages 2-12 are overweight. -- American Medical Association

Delay execution regulations While we failed this year to repeal Maryland's violation of the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, we will be back. The Baltimore Sun's admirable stance over the years against the death penalty has always been appreciated. Yet I am baffled by the editorial "A dishonest delay" (June 26). The writer seems confused: "legislators shouldn't drag out approvals of execution regulations to maintain a moratorium; the governor should commute death sentences instead."

Nov. 12 1987 The American Medical Association issued a policy saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.

Liability limits save access to care Proven medical liability reforms, including a cap on noneconomic damages, are working to keep Maryland physicians caring for patients while still allowing injured patients access to the court system. In fact, as the column from the president of the Maryland trial lawyers association suggests, about the only people complaining are trial lawyers ("Time to treat malpractice victims fairly," Feb. 27). In states without such reforms, many cases result in runaway jury awards for noneconomic damages.

The good news is that Queen Elizabeth II will watch th Baltimore Orioles at play. The bad news is that George Bush is assigned to explain the game to her.This is late in the game but the American Medical Association, which fought national health insurance to death, just caught on that it would mean more doctor work at good pay.

Four internal medicine specialists of the Worthington Medical Group have joined the medical staff at Carroll County General Hospital:* Dr. John D. Milto received his medical degree from the Medical School of Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico. He completed his internship in internal medicine and his residencies in medicine at South Baltimore General Hospital in Maryland. A member of the American Medical Association and the Baltimore County Med-Chi Faculty, he has also served as an instructor with the American Heart Association.

Maryland ranked third in the nation in 1997 in the number of doctors per 100,000 people. The national rate is 245. State...Percent...Rank Massachusetts...402...1 New York...375...2 Maryland...362...3 Connecticut...344...4 Rhode Island...324...5 Vermont...288...6 New Jersey...287...7 Pennsylvania...282...8 Illinois...253...9 Hawaii...252...10 Virginia...233...16 Delaware...230...18 Source: American Medical Association

Drs. Pankaj R. Desai and Syed M.A. Riaz have opened an internal/general medicine practice in the Linthicum-Ferndale area.In opening their medical practice at 800 N. Hammonds Ferry Road, they are consolidating the established medical practices of Drs. Syed Ashruf and Charles Milton Linthicum, whom residents had patronized for many years. Ashruf retired from private practice in May and Linthicum died in November.Desai is a graduate of Grant Medical College of the University of Bombay, and Washington State University, with a master's degree in pharmaceutical science.

Nearly one third of all primary-care physicians do not feel they have a responsibility to treat people with AIDS -- a view, disclosed in a survey released today, which the American Medical Association says flouts basic principles governing the role of doctors in society.The survey results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, traced the doctors' position in part to bias against the groups hardest hit by the disease -- specifically, to homosexuals and intravenous drug users.

WESTMINSTER -- James S. Wright, a psychiatrist with 30 years experience and a specialist in the care of adolescents and TC older adults, has joined the staff of Carroll County General Hospital.He is a graduate of University College Dublin Medical School in Ireland, with training at Altrincham General Hospital in Manchester, England, and Crichton Royal Hospital in Scotland.Dr. Wright served residencies in neurology in Belfast, Ireland; family practice at the University of Maryland in Baltimore; and training and fellowship at Seton Institute in Baltimore.

The nation's chief medical association apologized yesterday for decades of past discrimination against African-American physicians, when it effectively denied membership to many black doctors - which many believe has left a legacy of separate and unequal care. The American Medical Association released an article and commentary acknowledging discriminatory practices that, although ended decades ago, still affect medical care. For example, until 1968 it limited membership to doctors who were also members of a state-level affiliate - many of which were segregated.

Dr. Harry S. Gimbel, an old-fashioned general practitioner who made house calls long after others had stopped, died Sunday in his sleep at his Pikesville home. He was 96. Dr Gimbel practiced for about 50 years, and patients who came to his Catonsville office were seen without appointments. His two sons are orthopedic surgeons who live in Phoenix, Ariz. Dr. Gimbel worked seven days a week and would leave work late in the afternoon, rest for half an hour, eat dinner at 5 p.m., and then return to his office, where he saw patients until 9 p.m. "He did this three or four nights a week," recalled one of his sons, Dr. Neal I. Gimbel.

Nov. 12 1987 The American Medical Association issued a policy saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.

Through all his years in politics, despite the endless obligation to shake hands, smile for the cameras and coax money out of contributors, Sen. John McCain has somehow avoided becoming a complete phony. Annoy Mr. McCain, and you won't have to wait long to find out. Even a sickly, soft-spoken woman in a wheelchair gets no pass from him. The other day, at a meeting with voters in New Hampshire, Linda Macia mentioned her use of medical marijuana and politely asked his position on permitting it. Barely were the words out of her mouth before Mr. McCain spun on his heel, stalked away and heaped scorn on the idea.

CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association voted overwhelmingly yesterday to back a campaign to halve the amount of sodium in restaurant and processed foods during the next 10 years. At the same time, the nation's largest doctors group urged the Food and Drug Administration to revoke rules that have allowed sodium to go unregulated for decades. Under the rules, salt and its component sodium are included in the "generally recognized as safe" category. The AMA's support for revoking salt's status is similar to a petition filed last fall by the Center for Scientists in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy group, which also sought to void the rule.

CHICAGO - The American Medical Association voted yesterday to put its weight behind legislative initiatives around the United States requiring pharmacies to fill legally valid prescriptions in the wake of recently publicized refusals by pharmacists opposed to dispensing morning-after contraception. If the pharmacist has objections, pharmacies should provide for an "immediate referral to an appropriate alternative dispensing pharmacy without interference," according to the resolution passed by the group's policymaking House of Delegates.

For the past five years, top-ranking Democratic Party official Bradley Marshall has squeezed time into his jammed schedule to visit Baltimore - for his annual physical. But getting an appointment isn't as easy as it used to be. Marshall is one of more than a thousand people who participate each year in Johns Hopkins Medicine's Executive Health Program, a project created a decade ago by Dr. George H. Sack Jr. in part to change the way doctors administer annual physical exams. "It used to be your doctor looked down your throat, checked your blood pressure and sent you on your way," says Marshall, 50, the chief financial officer for the Democratic National Committee in Washington.

The percentage of teenage girls who drink alcoholic beverages is rising faster than that of boys and, on average, the girls take their first drink at age 13, the American Medical Association said yesterday in reporting the findings of two surveys. The AMA contends that a class of beverages informally known as "alcopops" is partly to blame, and it is warning doctors to educate teenagers about the dangers of such sweet drinks. The polls indicate that teenage girls are most vulnerable to the marketing of the beverages, which contain 5 percent to 7 percent alcohol and have such names as Rick's Spiked Lemonade, Doc Otis' Hard Lemon Flavored Malt Beverage, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Hooper's Hooch Lemon Brew.