Doctors are the subject of today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on June 9, 1947 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Medical Association (AMA) in May 1847. I’m not sure why they waited until June to issue the stamp. Perhaps they were running late.

The stamp pictures of Sir Luke Fildes’ famous 1891 painting, “The Doctor,” which depicts a Victorian doctor observing the critical stage in a child’s illness while the parents gaze on helplessly from the periphery. The painting, which hangs in the Tate Gallery, has been used to portray the values of the ideal physician and the inadequacies of the medical profession. Different theories exist as to the painting’s origin but it is most likely based upon Fildes’ own experience of the death of his son. Critics have also noted that Fildes omitted common medical equipment of his era in order to focus on the relationship between physician and patient.

The AMA, of course, has an “interesting” history. Its stated mission is “to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.” The Association also publishes the “Journal of the American Medical Association” (JAMA), which pursues the seemingly radical notion that new medicines and procedures should be subject to rigorous trials and reviews before they are used.

On the other hand, the AMA, which has one of the largest political lobbying budgets of any organization in the United States, has taken some controversial political stands. Most notably, in the decades after World War II, the AMA actively campaigned not only against universal health care but also narrower proposals to provide universal coverage for older Americans (what ultimately became Medicare). Part of that effort included the release, in 1961, of an album titled “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine,” in which Bonzo’s co-star stated: “Government has invaded the free precincts of private citizens,” and added “one of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.”

Since the enactment of Medicare in 1965, the AMA reversed its position and now opposes any “cut to Medicare funding or shift [of] increased costs to beneficiaries at the expense of the quality or accessibility of care”. However, the AMA has continued to actively oppose all proposals for single-payer health care plans, a position restated by the AMA’s president as late as last February.

So, hopefully, the parents of the patient pictured in today’s stamp, either had good private health insurance or were so wealthy that they could self-insure.

Stay safe, be well, fight for justice and pursue peace.