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John A.D. Cooper Lecture"Finding the Balance for Health Care Resources"Sara Rosenbaum, J.D.
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Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., Hirsh Professor and chair, health policy at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, delivered the John A.D. Cooper Lecture at the 2007 AAMC annual meeting. Rosenbaum explored several areas in which she felt the American health care system could find more balance in terms of the care it provides for all American citizens.
A recurring theme in Rosenbaum's lecture was the 1991 court case of Jones v. Chicago HMO Ltd. of Illinois. In the case, Sheila Jones, a low-income single mother in Illinois, received inadequate medical guidance from her HMO and primary care physician, resulting in the permanent disabling of her then-three-month-old daughter, Shawndale.
Rosenbaum characterized the incident as "negligence so fundamental as to shock the conscience," and said the case illustrated the fact that "those who are low income—that is, who have family incomes at twice the federal poverty level or lower—simply do not have a chance" in the health care system.
To remedy the situation, Rosenbaum called for physicians to become "committed sponsors"—a doctor whose loyalty to his or her patients "operates at the highest level and who can succeed regardless of their patients' income, skin color, language, place of residence, or source of coverage."
She also called for a reinvigoration of primary medical specialty training and the National Health Service Corps, primary care services investment in needy areas, an influx of technological resources that can support accessible care, more alignment between primary care and specialty services, and a financial system that rewards transparency and patient-oriented care for all people.
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