THE WEEKLY DOSE

May 15, 2016 Vol. 5, No. 19

TRENDING TOPICS

Jim Humphreys, MD, chair of TMA's Reference Committee on Financial and Organizational Affairs, listens to the discussion
on BCMS Resolution 107 during TexMed 2016.

TexMed 2016 now over; BCMS resolutions advance

Dr. David Henkes falls short on bid to become TMA president-elect

Many thanks to the following members of the BCMS Delegation to TMA who attended TexMed 2016 in Dallas on April 29-30:

Rajaram Bala, MD; Michael Battista, MD; Brian Boies, MD; Chelsea Clinton, MD; John Edwards, MD; Harold Gaskill, MD; William Gordon, MD; Anupama Gotimukula, MD; Sheldon Gross, MD; Greg Hamon, MD; David Henkes, MD; William Hinchey, MD; David Hnatow, MD; John Holcomb, MD; James Humphreys, MD; Margaret Kelley, MD; Alex Kenton, MD; Malathi Koli, MD; Vijay Koli, MD; Jonathan Larson, MD; John Menchaca, MD; Jesse Moss, Jr., MD; Jennifer Rushton, MD; Roberto San Martin, MD; Albert Sanders, MD; Arathi Shah, MD; Jayesh Shah, MD; John Shepherd, MD; Bernard Swift, Jr., MD; Roberto Trevino, Jr., MD; Ryan Van Ramshorst, MD; David Webster, MD; Patricia Young, MD and medical students, Andrew Braun and Arianna Fresquez.

The Delegation, led by Drs. Jayesh Shah and Michael Battista, chair and co-chair, respectively, worked through a number of TMA council, committee and board reports, along with numerous resolutions targeting various aspects of medicine. A large portion of the work occurs in four reference committees: Financial and Organizational Affairs; Medical Education; Science and Public Health; and Socioeconomics.

BCMS submitted two resolutions for consideration: Resolution 309 regarding "Physician Collaboration in Active Child Protective Services Investigations", which asks that TMA work with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and Child Protective Services to eliminate barriers to useful and productive interaction with physicians for the benefit of the children. The resolution was discussed and considered in the Science and Public Health Reference Committee with the end result to adopt the measure.

Resolution 107 regarding "Requiring Doctors to Swear to be Honest", which asks that physicians in Texas not be required by any governmental agency or function to swear that they will not be dishonest in dealings with state agencies or functions and that they not be required to swear that they will seek out colleagues that they suspect are guilty of misbehavior without specific guidance as to what is considered "misbehavior". This resolution was heard in the Reference Committee on Financial and Organizational Affairs with the end result to refer the measure for further review.

To see the full text of the resolutions click here for 309 and here for 107.

For a complete summary of the TMA House of Delegates business activity, click here.

Additionally, the House of Delegates conducts elections each year during TexMed for a number of TMA elected office positions. Dr. David Henkes, who was running for TMA president-elect, unfortunately fell short of his goal to win the seat. Dr. Henkes will continue serving on the TMA Board of Trustees, however, for another year, as he wraps up his final term on the board, which ends in May of 2017.

For more information on how to get involved in the BCMS Delegation to TMA, contact Mary Nava, delegation liaison and Chief Government Affairs Officer, at mary.nava@bcms.org.

BUILDING DEDICATION

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RELIEF FUND

E-mail received from Ms. Satoko Nagae
of Kumamoto City Medical Association

on May 6, 2016, 10:10 p.m.

Subject: About Earthquake Importance: High

Dear Hiroko,

As last 2 weeks Kumamoto City Medical Association Office had been designated as Center to receive material donations for earthquake damage to members working in medical facilities, we were busy receiving products from all over Japan and distributing them to many medical facilities and we were unable to do our regular work in the office.

Damage to Kumamoto City Medical Association building - 1st floor had very little damage except some shelves fell down, however, on 5th floor where school of nursing is located walls fell down and we cannot use the rooms on 5th floor now; so laboratory rooms and auditorium on 2nd floor are being used right now. The 5th floor where School of Nursing did not look bad from outside but inside classrooms had very heavy damages.

Dr. Fukushima injured his left arm and still has a support so it looks painful.

Some physicians had clinics in shopping centers and the entire shopping center buildings were damaged and some of them are unable to go in the buildings.

Some physicians were in old buildings and damaged very bad. Also, grounds sank down in some area and buildings of hospital and clinics went underground.

Mashiki City located east of Kumamoto City received the worst damage. Almost all areas of the city were damaged bad and people cannot live there.

Many clinics cannot operate and discussions to repair will come up soon but it will take a long time to repair them. Ground shake is still going on now and we feel that we cannot be standing still.

Repair of Kumamoto Castle will take many years. Water in the pond of Suizenji Park was drained. So it will take a long time for people to have sightseeing of Kumamoto City.

Satoko Nagae

Donation checks can be made out to BCMS with Kumamoto Medical Association Relief in the memo.

SPACE FOR LEASE