Opinion
How high is the stack of rules and regulations that apply to physicians?
LETTER — Posted March 3, 2008
Regarding "If FSMB [Federation of State Medical Boards] wants better care, it should raise doctor morale and lower hassles" (Letters, Feb. 4): In his letter to the editor, M. Richard Fragala, MD, of Malverne, N.Y. states: "Physicians are famous for their willingness to put themselves and their colleagues through the wringer to prove that they are devoted to meeting and indeed surpassing whatever the current challenge -- real or manufactured -- happens to be."
Indeed, this statement is true, and it raises the next question: When does the burden of governmental law and regulation rise to the level of state-sponsored persecution of a class of citizen -- physicians?
No other profession or defined class of citizens struggles with such a burden, made up of enacted laws, case law, regulatory law, requirements thrust upon us by innumerable boards and colleges and so-called experts, and public demands. As I look at other professionals I ask myself, "Could they continue to perform their function under a regulatory burden comparable to mine?" and the answer is always, "No way."
At times I muse: "How many feet high will be the stack if we pile every page of the federal, state, county, township and city laws, rules and regulations that apply only to physicians, and then add to that the rules, pronouncements and requirements of every nongovernmental organization involved in medicine?"
No, wait. Let me amend that question to: "How many tens of feet will the stack rise to?"
Dennis O'Connor, DO, Hemlock, Mich.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/03/edlt0303.htm.
