Neurosurgeons Featured in Articles about AMA House of Delegates Meeting

On Nov. 14, Kenneth S. Blumenfeld, MD, FAANS, a delegate from the AANS and Maya Babu, MD, MBA, FAANS, an alternate delegate from the CNS, were featured in a MedPage Today article about the November AMA House of Delegates meeting. During the discussions of an AMA report on assessing the competency of late-career physicians, Dr. Blumenfeld said the report was “helpful and much needed” but that it needed to be strengthened. He proposed an amendment suggesting that “a physician subjected to screening and assessment must be afforded due process protections, including a fair and objective hearing, before any adverse action may be taken against the physician.” Dr. Babu applauded that idea, noting, “What we’re seeing anecdotally is that this is being weaponized against late-career surgeons in terms of trying to limit or exclude practice.” Meanwhile, she continued, “we often place the onus on the physician or the surgeon to acquire counsel, challenge medical staff bylaws, and challenge the process of screening him or herself. Not only is this onerous, but this especially at the end of one’s career places undue burdens.”

Another article covered the discussion regarding the Council on Science and Public Health’s report on physician involvement in state regulations on driving and/or firearm use by people with cognitive function deficits due to a traumatic brain injury. Titled “Voting Access a Hot Topic Among AMA Delegates — Vulnerable populations should be protected from unsafe voting conditions, delegates say,” the article featured Dr. Babu, who noted, “We all recognize the tremendous value we as physicians have in counseling our patients. However, we do not believe it is reasonable to hold physicians responsible for the behavior of our patients. Increasingly we see movements by the government and insurers towards assigning more and more unrealistic culpability for aspects out of our control.”