Guest Columnist James D. Veltmeyer

San Diego Physician Blasts AMA's Anti-free Speech Agenda

Prominent San Diego physician Dr. James Veltmeyer, author of the 2021 book Physician on a Mission and past chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, is strongly criticizing the recent policy decision of the American Medical Association ( AMA ) to “launch Salem-like witch hunts against doctors who don’t agree with their woke political agenda.” ( https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-new-policy-aimed-addressing-public-health-disinformation )

Veltmeyer is referring to a recent resolution adopted by the AMA’s House of Delegates which seeks to “combat” so-called “public health disinformation” by empowering the organization to pressure licensing boards to take action against physicians who oppose prevailing narratives regarding COVID-19 and other public health issues.

“The AMA – with its left-wing ideology that embraces everything from Obamacare and genderless birth certificates to gun control and the LGBTQ agenda – long ago lost any credibility as a body that represents the interests of physicians and medical practitioners. That’s why only 15% of America’s physicians even pay dues to the AMA. Now, this corrupt institution is declaring war on the First Amendment.”

“By threatening disciplinary action, including possible delicensure, against doctors who don’t adhere to the Faucian party line, the AMA has demonstrated again that it has no respect for the medical profession, for medical science, or for those of us who spend our days and nights trying to provide the best care possible to our patients, even if that means violating some ‘protocol’ or writing outside the lines.”

Veltmeyer said physicians he knows won’t be “intimidated or bullied” by a “discredited group of far-left, politically-correct activists masquerading as health care experts, people who have done nothing over the years to resist insurance company control of health care, the cost inflation of the hospital system, or promote health care choice and strengthen the doctor-patient relationship. Instead, the AMA has been a feckless bystander while the quality of care has declined but costs have skyrocketed.”

Veltmeyer encouraged physicians who are still in the American Medical Association to leave and join other associations of health care providers which still care about doctors, nurses, and their patients.

Dr. James Veltmeyer is a prominent La Jolla physician and author of “Physician on a Mission: Dr. Veltmeyer’s RX to Save America.”He was voted "Top Doctor" in San Diego County in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.