Monday, November 02, 2009

Family physicians resign MD group protesting Coke partnership

Readers of my blog and listeners of my podcast might remember just last week when I interviewed American Academy of Family Physician president-elect Dr. Lori Heim about the AAFP's partnership with Coca Cola.

During the interview I asked Dr. Heim whether or not any physicians had resigned from the AAFP as a consequence.

She said she hadn't heard of any.

Well I'm guessing she's heard of these folks. More than 20 doctors from Contra Costa Health Services told the AAFP to coma-caca over their partnership with coca-cola and resigned, complete with a press release, a podcast and a video.

Personally I hope more AAFP physicians take their lead to protest this abominable partnership.

Dr. William Walker, the Director of Costa Contra Health Services summed it up perfectly with his statement,

"I am appalled and ashamed of this partnership between Coca-Cola and the American Academy of Family Physicians. How can any organization that claims to promote public health join forces with a company that promotes products that put our children at risk for obesity, heart disease and early death."
and at the end of his speech he symbolically tore up his AAFP membership card - a card he'd been carrying for 25 years.

Good on you Dr. Walker.

For those of you who might be curious, below is a copy of their video protest.



(Remember, email subscribers need to visit the blog to view the video)