State Chapters
AAEMLa Update
AAEMLa Holds Second Annual Meeting
by Larry Weiss, MD JD FAAEM
AAEMLa held its second annual meeting on November 8, 2001,
at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. We had to limit registration to 90 people
because of the size of our room. However, because of unexpected on-site
registrations, we ended up with over 100 registrants. We provided four
AMA Category One CME credits through the national AAEM. Our national office
does a great job assisting with all the requirements to qualify for CME
credit. They greatly assisted us in organizing our meeting.
We offered three national quality lectures, all on the theme
of "Critical Care in Emergency Medicine." Bob Sigillito, trained
in Emergency Medicine and critical care medicine, gave a two-hour overview
of ventilator management. Peter DeBlieux, also trained in EM and critical
care, gave a lecture on the use of vasoactive agents in the management
of shock. Jorge Martinez, an emergency physician and cardiologist, gave
a lecture on cardiac imaging studies available to ED patients.
At our luncheon meeting, our membership ratified amendments
creating a political action committee and a permanent seat on our board
of directors for residents. During further discussions at the meeting,
we actually created a second seat for residents. This reflects the strong
emphasis that AAEM and AAEMLa place on our residents, the future of emergency
medicine. Our chapter has received tremendous support from our resident
members.
Our next major activity occurred on November 27, 2001. On
this day the Louisiana Supreme Court heard the case of Colemen v. Deno
on appeal. In this case, previously reported in Common Sense, a state
appellate court held an emergency physician liable for $4.4 million for
the new intentional tort of "patient dumping." The appellate
court improperly created this new tort when it delivered its opinion in
this case. The appellate court recognized that the physician did not violate
the EMTALA "anti dumping" law, but held him liable for "dumping."
Please don't send me any e-mails asking me to explain the logic of that
opinion. AAEMLa initiated a drive to recruit physicians to come to the
court on November 27, wearing their white coats, to sit in the gallery
during the deliberations, to convince the Court of the importance of this
case to every physician in our state. We recruited approximately 50 physicians
to fill the gallery, including many surgeons. Almost all of the AAEMLa
Board attended as well as many of our members.
The Coleman case provides another example of AAEM and AAEMLa
quickly reacting to help individual emergency physicians on major issues
that affect their professional lives. AAEM filed its first brief within
several weeks after the appellate court opinion and wrote about this case
in the July/August 2001 issue of Common Sense. Our state chapter hopes
to continue to advance the goals stated in the AAEM Mission Statement
by continuing to play an "activist" role on a state level.
AAEMLa is the Louisiana State Chapter of the American
Academy of Emergency Medicine. Dr Larry Weiss is the President of the
AAEMLA and can be reached at ldweiss@aol.com
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