£%^:^^^ Dr. J. D. Wallace, CMA secretary general
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown nothing more difficult to take in from the public we serve. Since that perilous to conduct or more decision was made, the association has uncertain in its success than to take the needed and has obtained strong and lead in the introduction of a new order constructive leaders in its presidents of things. Machiavelli, "THE PRINCE" and its representatives on the General Board of Directors, al¬ Before the present social revolution Council allandconcerned have realized at though in this doctors and the began country, times of strife that they have a tiger There is
hand,
more
associations that represented them could confine all of their attention and their activities to medicine in its narrowest sense. The term "health" was interpreted then as "the absence of disease" and therefore doctors were not trained or conditioned to pay much at¬ tention to social factors which might have a deleterious effect on people. Those were matters for the clergy, the police, the school teachers or some other groups to handle. Life was sim-
plistic. My,
how times have changed during the past 2 decades! Whether the change has been for the better or the worse depends on one's individual point-ofview. However, despite the appearance of serious social problems, the ma¬ jority of people in this country would agree the change has been for the better. Because of the changes in the social structure itself, the interpretation of what the term "health" really means to those living in that new structure has changed. Perhaps we could have ignored the whole thing and carried on in our traditional manner, dealing only with identifiable and diagnosable dis¬ ease problems. The void thus created by omission would have been quickly filled by some new variety of health professional, no doubt, with greater social conscience and broader outlook. We could then tend strictly to the art and science of medical care learned in medical school. We would have become just one of the numerous technological components of a rapidly expanding and changing health care system. That ap¬ proach might well have saved us a lot of hard work and dissension in the ranks, but it would have significantly reduced the potential of medicine to participate in the ongoing evolution of our national health care plan. So the officers and officials of CMA made a positive and progressive deci¬ sion which maintained a leadership role in the health field. At the same time, the social consciousness revealed earned a considerable degree of respect
by
the tail. It has become painfully to them that making positive decisions on such matters as the non¬ medical use of drugs, scientific family planning and abortion, to name a few, is much more disruptive to the tranquillity of association activities than were the decisions of yesteryear.
apparent
dividuals who don't wish to be involved in this legislated process to abstain. However, for those physicians who are willing to become involved, the pres¬ ent legislation makes it damned tough. It isn't part of my job to expound on the virtues of any of my elected bosses. I am a servant of the associa¬ tion. However, having served as a prac¬ titioner on the grass roots level of med¬ icine for 30 years, having gone through the professional agonies concerned with unplanned pregnancies and having ob¬ served the disastrous results of amateur and poorly financed family plan¬
ning
just can't sit idly by president branded by vari¬ ous individuals as an abortionist, a racist, a revolutionary and all sorts of other things which she isn't. She is, in fact, a humanitarian pri¬ mary care physician who has a great deal of respect for the sanctity of life. She is an individual who has been able to combine very successfully the multiple roles of a caring family physi¬ cian, loving wife, and adored mother. Her career has earned her the respect of her peers (she held the presidency of her own provincial medical asso¬ ciation before CMA). She isn't carried away by women's lib or any other form of cultism; she's just a good doctor who happens to care for people and their problems. To put it personally, and
Diversity Every individual citizen, be he or she a member of a health profession or of the public, has his or her personal viewpoints on socioeconomic and med¬ ical problems. These are based on a variety of moral, sociological and reli¬ gious beliefs, and they are respected both by the laws of the land and by policies adopted by voluntary associa¬ tions such as CMA. However, they ensure no matter what decision is taken on any problem, there will be those
who think it's great, those who couldn't care less one way or the other, and those who will dissent. A general consensus to satisfy everyone is no longer possible. So pity the poor individual that is responsible for expounding on the decisions taken in our association the president. Those of you who take the time to read the association news and special articles sections of CMAJ will realize the problems caused by the present national legislation on abortion. It, in effect, places the physician in the unenviable position of being the judge, jury and executioner in this particular field of medicosocial activity. If you happen to have read the excellent re¬ port on the historical evolution of CMA's stand on abortion {CMAJ 111: 474, 1974) you will perhaps better un¬ derstand our present quandary. Those of you who have been selected by your peers to serve on the required hospital abortion committees will perhaps be more acutely aware of the problem than others. Fortunately the application of the legislation and its regulations is permissive enough to enable those in¬ 344 CMA JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 8, 1975/VOL. 112 .
programs, I
see our
she's my kind of doctor, and I wish that we could all be as devoted to medicine as she is. In her present role as CMA pres¬ ident, she will devote about 200 days of her presidential year on our behalf, doing her best in her own way to provide leadership that reflects the policies and objectives of the associa¬ tion. It's a tiring and often thankless job. Perhaps at times her frankness
and positive approach startle some of us who might tend to waffle an answer to a direct question on a touchy subject. I happen to admire her directness and her honesty. She will, in spite of often
undeserved criticism
by
some
physi¬
cians, go down in history as one of the great leaders of our association. However, I can't help but wonder
whether she and her family feel that the honour bestowed upon her is really worth the tremendous effort. "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" at least that's the way I see it.B
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown nothing more difficult to take in from the public we serve. Since that perilous to conduct or more decision was made, the association has uncertain in its success than to take the needed and has obtained strong and lead in the introduction of a new order constructive leaders in its presidents of things. Machiavelli, "THE PRINCE" and its representatives on the General Board of Directors, al¬ Before the present social revolution Council allandconcerned have realized at though in this doctors and the began country, times of strife that they have a tiger There is
hand,
more
associations that represented them could confine all of their attention and their activities to medicine in its narrowest sense. The term "health" was interpreted then as "the absence of disease" and therefore doctors were not trained or conditioned to pay much at¬ tention to social factors which might have a deleterious effect on people. Those were matters for the clergy, the police, the school teachers or some other groups to handle. Life was sim-
plistic. My,
how times have changed during the past 2 decades! Whether the change has been for the better or the worse depends on one's individual point-ofview. However, despite the appearance of serious social problems, the ma¬ jority of people in this country would agree the change has been for the better. Because of the changes in the social structure itself, the interpretation of what the term "health" really means to those living in that new structure has changed. Perhaps we could have ignored the whole thing and carried on in our traditional manner, dealing only with identifiable and diagnosable dis¬ ease problems. The void thus created by omission would have been quickly filled by some new variety of health professional, no doubt, with greater social conscience and broader outlook. We could then tend strictly to the art and science of medical care learned in medical school. We would have become just one of the numerous technological components of a rapidly expanding and changing health care system. That ap¬ proach might well have saved us a lot of hard work and dissension in the ranks, but it would have significantly reduced the potential of medicine to participate in the ongoing evolution of our national health care plan. So the officers and officials of CMA made a positive and progressive deci¬ sion which maintained a leadership role in the health field. At the same time, the social consciousness revealed earned a considerable degree of respect
by
the tail. It has become painfully to them that making positive decisions on such matters as the non¬ medical use of drugs, scientific family planning and abortion, to name a few, is much more disruptive to the tranquillity of association activities than were the decisions of yesteryear.
apparent
dividuals who don't wish to be involved in this legislated process to abstain. However, for those physicians who are willing to become involved, the pres¬ ent legislation makes it damned tough. It isn't part of my job to expound on the virtues of any of my elected bosses. I am a servant of the associa¬ tion. However, having served as a prac¬ titioner on the grass roots level of med¬ icine for 30 years, having gone through the professional agonies concerned with unplanned pregnancies and having ob¬ served the disastrous results of amateur and poorly financed family plan¬
ning
just can't sit idly by president branded by vari¬ ous individuals as an abortionist, a racist, a revolutionary and all sorts of other things which she isn't. She is, in fact, a humanitarian pri¬ mary care physician who has a great deal of respect for the sanctity of life. She is an individual who has been able to combine very successfully the multiple roles of a caring family physi¬ cian, loving wife, and adored mother. Her career has earned her the respect of her peers (she held the presidency of her own provincial medical asso¬ ciation before CMA). She isn't carried away by women's lib or any other form of cultism; she's just a good doctor who happens to care for people and their problems. To put it personally, and
Diversity Every individual citizen, be he or she a member of a health profession or of the public, has his or her personal viewpoints on socioeconomic and med¬ ical problems. These are based on a variety of moral, sociological and reli¬ gious beliefs, and they are respected both by the laws of the land and by policies adopted by voluntary associa¬ tions such as CMA. However, they ensure no matter what decision is taken on any problem, there will be those
who think it's great, those who couldn't care less one way or the other, and those who will dissent. A general consensus to satisfy everyone is no longer possible. So pity the poor individual that is responsible for expounding on the decisions taken in our association the president. Those of you who take the time to read the association news and special articles sections of CMAJ will realize the problems caused by the present national legislation on abortion. It, in effect, places the physician in the unenviable position of being the judge, jury and executioner in this particular field of medicosocial activity. If you happen to have read the excellent re¬ port on the historical evolution of CMA's stand on abortion {CMAJ 111: 474, 1974) you will perhaps better un¬ derstand our present quandary. Those of you who have been selected by your peers to serve on the required hospital abortion committees will perhaps be more acutely aware of the problem than others. Fortunately the application of the legislation and its regulations is permissive enough to enable those in¬ 344 CMA JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 8, 1975/VOL. 112 .
programs, I
see our
she's my kind of doctor, and I wish that we could all be as devoted to medicine as she is. In her present role as CMA pres¬ ident, she will devote about 200 days of her presidential year on our behalf, doing her best in her own way to provide leadership that reflects the policies and objectives of the associa¬ tion. It's a tiring and often thankless job. Perhaps at times her frankness
and positive approach startle some of us who might tend to waffle an answer to a direct question on a touchy subject. I happen to admire her directness and her honesty. She will, in spite of often
undeserved criticism
by
some
physi¬
cians, go down in history as one of the great leaders of our association. However, I can't help but wonder
whether she and her family feel that the honour bestowed upon her is really worth the tremendous effort. "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" at least that's the way I see it.B
