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Doctors' Group Will Issue An Apology For Racism

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The Washington Post

Published: July 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - The country's largest medical association is set to issue a formal apology today for its historic antipathy toward African American doctors, expressing regret for a litany of transgressions.

Those transgressions include barring black physicians from its ranks for decades and remaining silent during battles on landmark legislation to end racial discrimination.

The apology marks one of the rare times a major national organization has expressed contrition for its role in the segregation and discrimination that black people have experienced in the United States.

In a commentary in the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association, Ronald Davis, the organization's immediate past president, said many of the organization's questionable actions reflected the "social mores and racial discrimination" that existed for much of the country's history. But, he wrote, that should not excuse them.

"The medical profession, which is based on a boundless respect for human life, had an obligation to lead society away from disrespect of so many lives," Davis wrote. "The AMA failed to do so and has apologized for that failure."

AMA officials declined Wednesday to discuss specifics of the apology, including how it came about, saying information would be released today.

But the Davis article refers to a committee of experts convened and supported by the organization to examine "the historic roots of the black-white divide in U.S. medicine."

Specifically, the panel said that the AMA had permitted state and local medical associations to exclude black physicians, effectively barring these doctors from the national organization.

In the early 20th century, the organization listed black doctors as "colored" in its national physician directory.

In addition, the AMA was silent during debates over the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also, it declined for years to join efforts to force hospitals built with federal funds to not discriminate.

Richard Allen Williams, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and president of the Minority Health Institute, said the apology is "an excellent gesture of goodwill."

"I applaud the AMA for doing this. In the current climate of health care, it is a very timely gesture," Williams said.

"Less than 5 percent of physicians are African Americans, and that needs to be changed," he said.

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