Published on October 1, 1997, by the California Physicians Alliance, 560 Twentieth Street, Oakland, California 94612, Phone: 510/832-7134; FAX: 510/832-7110;
e-mail: capa@ips.net .
http://www.defendhealthcare.org

Dear Colleague,

Profit-driven HMOs have intruded with devastating effect into the relationship between physicians and their patients. Accountability for patient care has shifted from health professionals to faceless clerks in corporate offices. This is a serious emergency.

We ask your endorsement of the enclosed public statement on this crisis, which is modeled after a statement originally drafted by colleagues in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts statement, endorsed by more than 2,000 physicians, hundreds of nurses and the medical school classes at Harvard is to appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on December 3rd, 1997.

In California we plan to publish the statement in the West Coast edition of the New York Times on the day of the JAMA publication, along with the names of local endorsers. We are raising funds in order to reach the over 70,000 physicians in the state by mail, telephone or in grand rounds. In addition, we are planning symposiums on that date to call the public's attention to the deterioration of care and caring, and to initiate a colloquy on a future for health care guided by science and compassion, rather than greed.

Colleagues across the nation are planning to gather simultaneously at similar meetings, linked by satellite. An initial national conference call to discuss such coordinated efforts drew 274 participants from 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Massachusetts efforts and the first conference call have already drawn substantial attention from the New York Times, CBS Television, Newsweek and other news media.

Recent polls show rising public disenchantment with the current direction of health care. A vigorous effort by physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals working together can set in motion vital public discussion about the danger to health care in California and throughout the nation.

You now have the opportunity to affirm these values. Bring the pendulum back to quality patient care. Join your voice with others and personally endorse this statement. To make this possible, we need your help today.

Sincerely,

(Signed):

Bernard Lown, M.D.
Lown Cardiovascular Center
Harvard Medical School

Daniel Lowenstein, M.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology, Anatomy and Neurosurgery
Robert B. and Elinor Aird Chair in Neurology
Acting Dean of Student and Curricular Affairs
University of California, San Francisco

Charlene Harrington, RN, Ph.D., F.A.A.N.
Professor, School of Nursing
University of California, San Francisco

John Gilman, M.D.
Ophthalmologist

Bree Johnston, M.D.
Geriatrician, San Francisco VA Medical Center
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

Ron Adler, M.D.
Gastroenterologist
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

Patricia Benner, RN, Ph.D., F.A.A.N.
Professor, Department of Nursing
University of California, San Francisco

Henrik Blum, M.D.
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Berkeley
Joint UCB-UCSF Medical Program

John Roark, M.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
President, California Physicians Alliance

Tolbert Small, M.D.
Internist

Floyd Huen, M.D.
Internist
Medical Director, Over 60 Clinic

Affiliations are for identification purposes only.