- Target:
- Drs. Maves, Plested, Davis, and Sade
- Region:
- United States of America
Presently, the perspective of people with disabilities is not formally represented in the structure of the AMA. This petition calls for the AMA to demonstrate its commitment to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the ongoing work of the AMA by creating a Disability Advisory Committee.
As the largest organization of medical doctors in the country, one of the AMA's primary purposes is to promote better public health for all, including people with disabilities. In order to achieve this goal, it is critical that the AMA regularly communicate with people with disabilties about matters that specifically affect them.
Several recent medical cases underscore the necessity for creating a formalized forum dedicated to a dialogue between the AMA organization and staff and people with disabilities, not least the recent controversial case involving the "growth attenuation" treatment that was given to the young girl known to us as Ashley, which involved procedures that violated state law.
This petition is part of an ongoing effort by advocates to seek AMA engagement on the creation of a Disability Advisory Committee as quickly as possible.
TO: DRS. MAVES, PLESTED, DAVIS AND SADE
AMA Disability Advisory Committee, needed now
Dear Drs. Maves, Plested, Davis and Sade,
We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, join disability rights activists and feminist disability rights activists across the country in calling upon the American Medical Association, the largest organization of medical doctors in the United States, to act now to establish a Disability Advisory Committee.
With the creation of a Disability Advisory Committee, along the lines of the GLBT Advisory Committee that was created by the AMA Board of Trustees, the AMA will facilitate a much needed forum for the direct involvement and participation of people with disabilities in matters that affect patients and people with disabilities.
In keeping with the AMA's commitment to the elimination of health disparities, the promotion of physician professionalism and the pursuit of research that examines critical ethical issues in medicine, you must act now to expand its scope to include the disability rights perspective of people with disabilities.
We urge you to begin a dialogue with us through the establishment of an AMA Disability Advisory Committee as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
The Undersigned
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The Creation of an AMA Disability Advisory Committee petition to Drs. Maves, Plested, Davis, and Sade was written by Linda Edwards and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.