profession
Former AMA president dies
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 28, 2009
Edward R. Annis, MD, a prominent general surgeon from Miami and a former president of the American Medical Association, died on Sept. 14. He was 96.
Dr. Annis served as AMA president from June 1963 to June 1964 and was a member of the organization's Board of Trustees from 1967 to 1969. He also was president of the World Medical Assn. in 1963-64.
Edward R. Annis, MD
"During his tenure as an AMA leader and throughout his professional life, Dr. Annis distinguished himself as an articulate, gifted and respected champion of the medical profession and the patients served by it," AMA President J. James Rohack, MD, said in a statement. "Dr. Annis was passionate about improving access to health care for all patients, and we remember fondly his lifelong quest to preserve the patient-physician relationship."
In 1962, Dr. Annis gave a televised speech presenting the physicians' perspective amid a political fight about whether to create Medicare. An audience of 30 million Americans watched.
His book Code Blue: Health Care in Crisis was published in 1993.
In 2005, Dr. Annis was one of two U.S. physicians recognized in the World Medical Assn.'s book Caring Physicians of the World.
One of Dr. Annis' sons is Joseph P. Annis, MD, an Austin, Texas, anesthesiologist who serves on the AMA Board of Trustees and as AMA secretary.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/09/28/prbf0928.htm.
