Organizational Weakness.

In 1846 and 1847 physicians held meetings in New York City and Philadelphia to discuss the creation of a national medical association. The new organization, the American Medical Association (AMA), held its first meeting on 2 May 1848 in Baltimore. Yet despite more than fifty years of existence the AMA remained a weak organization in 1900, reflecting the medical profession's lack of institutional control over itself. The AMA's strength lay in the East and Midwest, but its complicated method of granting membership based on attendance at annual meetings severely limited the organization's base and its prospects for expansion. Only a small percentage of eligible physicians bothered to attend meetings and thus join the AMA. The group did publish a prominent weekly journal, but not even all AMA members subscribed. Internal problems kept the AMA from effectively addressing important professional issues raised by poor medical...