Profession

County society apologizes for excluding black doctor

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 15, 2008

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A Central Illinois medical society apologized in August for its past treatment of black physicians. The Sangamon County Medical Society, which encompasses the state capital of Springfield, highlighted its "most embarrassing" and "egregious mistake" of twice denying membership to Alonzo H. Kenniebrew, MD.

Dr. Kenniebrew was a 1897 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Tennessee and the first resident at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He moved to Jacksonville, Ill., in 1902 and started a hospital. Historical documents indicate he also had some privileges at the Springfield hospital. Eventually the county medical society was able to convince that hospital to make admitting privileges contingent on membership.

In 1929, Dr. Kenniebrew applied for SCMS membership, but was ignored. He later moved to the Chicago area and was granted membership in the Cook County Medical Society. In 1934, he returned to Central Illinois and applied for a transfer membership to SCMS. It was never granted.

The apology was prompted by the AMA's July apology for rules that effectively allowed state and county medical societies to exclude black doctors from membership. That practice ended in 1968. The AMA has put additional information online (link).

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/09/15/prbf0915.htm.

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