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