Letters – October 2011
Tex Med. 2011;107(10):7-8.
A Little Humility, Please
I read the August issue of Texas Medicine with some concern. The TMA leadership, as well as those who testified in the many committees, should be congratulated wholeheartedly for their accomplishments during the most recent session of the Texas legislature. However, seeming to boast about those accomplishments is a bit reminiscent of Howard Dean.
In my opinion, nothing is to be gained by the TMA's portraying itself as omnipotent in its accomplishments. Remember, in reality, neither the TMA nor those who testified did anything definitive. The legislators (albeit there are a few physicians in the legislature) and the Texas governor did it. By seeming to be boastful, there is the very real possibility of irritating some members of the Texas Legislature who sided with the TMA. What the Texas Legislature and governor give, the Texas Legislature and governor can take away in a heartbeat.
Similarly, I would suggest that the very title of the lead article in the recent issue ("Don't Mess With TMA," August 2011, pages 16-37) also amounts to a boastful challenge to those who would diminish the role of the physician in Texas medicine. It will serve to provide a new resolve to those who seek to relegate us to the role they visualize for us.
Perhaps it is time that the leadership of TMA quit appearing to beat their chests and develop a more conciliatory and humble position regarding their accomplishments, with a more obvious deference to those members of the Texas Legislature who actually voted for the TMA positions and who made so much of the TMA agenda a reality.
DAVID A. CROSS, MD, Temple
Something Smells in the AG's Office
As a public service for doctors in jeopardy, I think the article by Ms. Conde, "Physician-Buyer Beware," (August 2011 Texas Medicine, pages 49-53) is needed and well timed. What it says about the office practices of our attorney general is something else.
The more I thought about what the article revealed, the more upset I became. It is one thing to technically apply statutes for needed correction of offenses. It is another to apply a statute with the apparent motive of simply bringing in cash to a state office. If the attorney general's aim is to correct illegal behavior, why not just accept the actions of the Harlingen physician who immediately stopped buying from the illegal seller? The same could be argued for the Grapevine group.
To me, the article identifies a stench coming from the area of Attorney General Greg Abbott's office.
I cannot conceive of the Texas Legislature having this type of enforcement in mind when it voted this law into existence.
Thanks for all you are doing.
JAN D. COCHRUM, MD, Fort Worth
October 2011 Texas Medicine Contents
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