The first District of Columbia PGY I & II meeting
took place under the aegis of the Cosmos Club Health Group, on September
29th at the Club with excellent and enthusiastic participation of PGY
I & II from GWU, Howard, Georgetwon and St. Eze. The participants
also included Doctors Ray Scallettar, former Chairman of the Board of
the AMA, Annelle Primm, Director of Minority and National Affairs of
the APA, William B. Lawson, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, Howard
University College of Medicine, Jeff Akman, Chairman Department of Psychiatry,
GW, Connie Dunlap, President, DC Psychiatric Society, and Eliot Sorel,
Chairman of the Cosmos Club Health Group and the meeting's convener.
The Residents expressed a very keen interest in continuing and building
on this event, a very keen wish to learn more about each other's programs,
and to get involved with the DC professional community. In addition
to the very good time had by all, one other concrete outcome from the
meeting may be a Transcultural Psychiatry Conference, next spring in
Washington, D.C. with broad institutional participation and representation
in the planning of the event. Dr. Sorel also presented special thanks
to Dr. Maryam Razavi, Chief Resident at GW, for her important contributions
in assisting with preparation of this pioneering and very successful
event.
Eliot Sorel, M.D., D.F.A.P.A., Clinical Professor of Global
Health, Health Services Management and Leadership in the School of Public
Health and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine
has recently been selected as an Objective Reviewer for the first cycle
of the Global AIDS Fellowship Program organized by the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) and the American Association of Schools of Public Health
(ASPH).
During the 2004-2005 year, Roger Peele, as Area III Trustee, saw the final step in the Action Paper he, Larry Kline and others authored several years before asking that the APA Bylaws be changed to state that the CEO of the APA is the Medical Director, not the President. Bylaws changed effective May, 2005. During the year, he and other WPS Assembly members had motions passed to update the DSM, improve the APA's governance and provide greater ability of patients to challenge the exposure of their records to a state Board, motions still being addressed in parts of the APA.
Celebrate
WPS 50 th Anniversary
WPS Awards Banquet
The Surgeon General’s Public Service Award
NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Awards
Educate, Communicate, Evaluate
Brain Research and the Mapping of the Human Genome: Applications to Primary Care and Psychiatric Medicine Conference
First webcast of such conference
Psychiatric Residents’ meetings at George Washington University, Georgetown University, Howard University,
and
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
First meeting of the WPS President with National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Leaders of the Washington Metropolitan Area
Mental Illness Awareness week Candlelight Vigil keynote speaker
Established listserve and website
First WPS Council Retreat
First Strategic Planning Focus Groups
WPS Executive Director and Staff performance standards
CNN interview on U.S. Presidential Candidate, Senator John McCain
Advocate
First meeting with the United States Office of Personnel Management
Legislate
Physicians’ Negotiation Act of 1999, Bill 13-333, Expert testimony
District of Columbia Receiver’s Performance testimony
MAMSI payments to psychiatrists meeting
Litigate
Joined professional colleagues in NY/NJ litigation against managed care companies’ practices
It has been a memorable year, a pleasure and a privilege to have been able to serve and lead a group of extraordinarily talented, innovative, devoted, and hard working psychiatrists. Many thanks to the WPS Council, the Executive Director, and the staff.
We continued to emphasize and fight for:
- The maintenance of the doctor-patient relationship
as the cornerstone of our profession;
- Resisting managed care intrusions into privacy, and
deprivation of needed psychiatric care;
In my presidential columns, which I enjoyed writing and
received favorable comment on, I spoke out against the dangers of "split
treatment"; the profession's need to resist the term "medically
necessary" being define by managed care companies; the need for
maintenance of confidentiality as the cornerstone of our work. I spoke
in my columns of the tendency for the role of the psychiatrist to be
marginalized, minimized; and how through leadership we needed to become
again captain of the mental health ship.
The Supreme Court decided Jaffee v. Redmond in the second
month of my presidency. In my presidential column I wrote:
"Effective psychotherapy depends upon an atmosphere
of confidence and trust, and therefore the mere possibility of disclosure
of confidential communications may impede development of the relationship
necessary for successful treatment. The privilege also serves the putlic
interest, since the mental health of the Nation's citizenry, no less
than its physical health, is a public good of transcendent importance."
Is the from an APA position paper in support of parity,
or confidentiality, or the centrality of psychotherapy in treament?
No, this is the language of the Supreme Court of the United States,
in Jaffee v. Redmond, just decided on June 13, recognizing for the first
time a patient-psychotherapist privilege; in the federal judicial system.
The Supreme Court's tribute to the importance, dignity,
and inviolability of the therapeutic relationship was impressive and
clear, and was only highlighted by Justice Scalia's dissent in which
he suggested the average citizen's mental health would be better served
by getting advice from his mom than from a therapist.
Some Supreme Court decisions have a gradual but massive
spreading effect, in time influencing areas of our lives far beyond
the narrow confines of the original holding. I hope and believe this
will be one of them....
In my presidency, we were still a relatively small Executive
Council. I could call four or five key, representative members, and
make some key decisions quickly by phone, knowing our joint wisdom could
be supported by the next Council meeting.
I find the present structure of the Board of Directors
overlarge and daunting--although that may be offset by the greater inclusiveness
achieved. I guess the president now tries to use his executive cmte
in a similar manner. I'm not sure that works as well; for instance I
felt monumentally unsupported by the exec cmte in the past year while
chairing the WPS Ad Hoc Cmte on the Board of Physicians v. Harold Eist,
M.D., matter--despite my keeping them apprised through emails, through
Walter, etc. I have the impression that the exec cmte focused on fiscal
prudence, but spent little energy, time, or money on such key issues
as those presented in the Eist matter--e.g., fighting for patient rights,
collegial support, etc. I preferred the way things functioned within
WPS nine years ago.
Since my presidential year:
- In APA: I served five years on the Guttmacher Award
Committee, the last three years as its Chair;
- I've served on the Council on Psychiatry and Law (corresponding
member, but very active, ask Paul Appelbaum) continuously for the
past five years;
- I serve on the Isaac Ray Award Committee (term 2004-07).
In WPS, I continue to serve on Board as Federal Legislative
Rep.
