Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

From RationalWiki

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a small group of "conservative" quacks, cranks and fundamentalist zealots which likes to rail against such timeless evils as abortion, vaccination and the idea of universal health care coverage.^[1] It is sufficiently batshit insane to have retained Andrew Schlafly as its general counsel and is strongly suspected of consuming their own newborn infants. Its physical address is shared with the equally weird Doctors for Disaster Preparedness.

Its website offers this ridiculous claim:

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a non-partisan professional association of physicians in all types of practices and specialties across the country. Since 1943, AAPS has been dedicated to the highest ethical standards of the Oath of Hippocrates and to preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine. Our motto, "omnia pro aegroto" means "all for the patient."

Contents 1 Activities 2 Publications 3 Members 4 Conflicts 5 Quackery 6 External links 7 Footnotes

[edit] Activities

Many of these activities appear to violate their "Patient's Bill of Rights", which, among other things, states:

(the right) to refuse third-party interference in their medical care, and to be confident that their actions in seeking or declining medical care will not result in third-party-imposed penalties for patients or physicians

• AAPS files lawsuit against FDA to overturn approval of "Plan B" morning after pill for over the counter use by women over 18.^[2]
• Fight against "Sham Peer Review": The AAPS recognizes "sham peer review" as an abusive use of such entities as hospital by-laws and disciplinary committees to exclude physicians for other-than legitimate or the explicitly-stated reasons.^[3]
• Defense of a physician convicted of improper narcotic prescribing while operating a clinic to treat patients with chronic pain.^[4]
• Fighting mandatory vaccination.^[5]
• Fighting against mandated mental health parity,^[6] which is advocated by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, American Medical Association,^[7] the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.^[8]
• Promoting contracting between physicians and patients without government or insurance company involvement.
• Fighting socialized and single-payer healthcare.^[9]
• Fighting to debunk "Shaken baby syndrome", and to link it to vaccines rather than abuse.^[10]
• Advocating for so-called "freedom of conscience" to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill lawful prescriptions.^[11] This would appear to interfere with a patient's right "to refuse third party interference in their health care".
• Fighting abortion, not simply through moral objection, but also by attempting to link abortion to unrelated health problems,^[12] including breast cancer.^[13]
• Advocating against the sale of organs for transplant.^[14]
• Advocating against organ donation in cases where brain death is unclear.^[15]
• Advocating against withdrawal of care, as in the Terri Schiavo case,^[16] including misrepresenting the results of autopsy in the case.^[17]

Their 1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9, Tucson, Arizona address is shared with that of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness.

[edit] Publications

The AAPS publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JPANDS), until 2003 called the Medical Sentinel. The journal is not considered a valid, peer-reviewed journal for inclusion in major scientific databases, and has been listed by Quackwatch as "Fundamentally Flawed"^[18]. An article in the "journal"^[19] was used in 2008 to justify a petition against global warming.^[20]

[edit] Members

• Russell Blaylock, M.D., member of the editorial staff. Publishes the Blaylock Wellness Report. Flagged by Quackwatch,^[21] among others.^[22]
• Joseph Mercola, D.O., Runs Mercola.com. Flagged by Quackwatch.^[23]
• Ron Paul, erstwhile Republican Presidential candidate.

[edit] Conflicts

According to their literature:

AAPS members believe this patient-physician relationship must be protected from all forms of third-party intervention.

• The organization, a third party to the Schiavo case, interfered in the relationship between the patient's advocate and physicians, even helping to bring the power of the federal government to bear on a single medical case.
• AAPS advocates for so-called "freedom of conscience" where patients are denied legal drugs, treatments, and information based on the morals of the provider rather than the patient.
• AAPS views patient advance directives designed for dignity at the end-of-life as a financial plot to kill patients in order to save money.^[24]

[edit] Quackery

The society's "journal" JPANDS has published an article on the supposed link between breast cancer and abortion.^[25] It has been roundly debunked.^[26][27][28] Near the end of the 2008 Presidential Election the "journal" published a claim that Barack Obama uses neuro-linguistic programming to exercise mind control over people at his rallies.^[29]

[edit] External links

• http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/medicine.html
• http://www.jpands.org/jpands1201.htm
• http://www.aapsonline.org/
• Thorough evisceration of the AAPS by Kathleen Seidel on her neurodiversity.com blog *doffs cap*

[edit] Footnotes