by A.R. Marth

Created on: April 11, 2007   Last Updated: April 13, 2007

The AMA was founded on May 7, 1847, at a time when new techniques in medical research were not commonly shared by doctors with their colleagues.It has always been a private organization, and has never been run by, or open to, the public.

At the University of Pennsylvania's College of Physicians, a group of doctors were assembling research and specimens and sharing their knowledge in a way that most had not done before.

At the time, medicine was far-flung and confusing. Most doctors had their own way of treating illnesses, and were not open to sharing their techniques with colleagues. The AMA was founded with the idea that if doctors shared information and research, technological advances would be accessible to everyone in the field. It would also raise the standards of medical care and training, and give the field a standard to live up to.

The spark which influenced the 250 medical convention attendees to build the AMA was perhaps tha plague of yellow fever in Philadelphia, which had occured only a few decades earlier. This illness had killed more than ten percent of the population, and doctors at the time had had very little recourse for treating it.

The association began to print its trade journal in 1883, and has produced it ever since. Although the first president of the AMA was Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, in 1864 Dr. Nathan S. Davis became president, and also later was the first editor of the trade journal. He spent more than fifty years steering the policies of the association, and attempting to keep up its standards.

One of the early battles of the AMA was against patent medicine sales, today represented by their fight against untested herbal remedies. In the late 1800s, patent medicine salesmen marketed many dangerous concotions as remedies for various common illnesses, including at least one product which contained opium, and was meant to cure fatigue! The AMA pushed for laws which would make labelling such elixirs as medicine illegal.

During the Civil War, the AMA was responsible for training northern army medics, and pushed for innovation in battlefield wound treatment, including the use of ether and chloroform for pain during amputations.

The AMA had a controversial career from the start. But in 1948, they lobbied against universal health care laws and provisions that were already in place. Acting out of self-interest and in fear of lower salaries for doctors, they hired a PR firm to advertise universal health care as "Socialized medicine". Since communism

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