-Caveat Lector- >From wsws.org WSWS : News & Analysis : North America : Democratic Rights US medical journal editor fired in cave-in to the right By David Walsh 21 January 1999 Dr. George D. Lundberg was fired January 15 as editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), after 17 years in the post, following the magazine's publication in its most recent issue of a survey of sexual attitudes of US college students. The brief study indicated that 59 percent of those questioned did not define oral-genital contact as "having sex." Bill Clinton advanced the same view in rejecting the accusation that he lied about the nature of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In announcing the firing, E. Ratcliffe Anderson, executive vice president of the American Medical Association (AMA), declared, "Dr. Lundberg ... has threatened the historic tradition and integrity of the [journal] by inappropriately and inexcusably interjecting JAMA into a major political debate that has nothing to do with science or medicine." Anderson charged that Lundberg sped up the publication process so that the study would appear during Clinton's Senate trial. He went on to apologize to anyone who may "feel JAMA has been misused in the midst of the most important congressional debate of this century." As Anderson's apology indicates, the firing of Lundberg was an explicit effort to appease right-wing elements. Time correspondents Harriet Barovick and Dick Thompson report that "An AMA source says panic over potential wrath from Republicans was the prime reason" for the action. The association owns the journal but is not generally involved in its day-to-day operations. Lundberg was a well-respected editor, who had apparently done a good deal to raise JAMA's standing among medical journals. Frank Davidoff, editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine, told the Washington Post, "He was recognized as someone who had taken the journal and turned it around. He hired a spectacular group of editors with very high visibility." The editor had aroused the ire of reactionary forces before. In 1993 he editorialized in JAMA that it would be "immoral" if Clinton's proposed healthcare plan did not include coverage of the uninsured. According to the Post, Lundberg, a physician himself, angered many in the AMA when he claimed on the CBS news program "60 Minutes" that one reason for the low autopsy rate in the US was that "some doctors, some medical staffs, are afraid to find out what happened in people who died." The AMA officialdom angered conservatives last year by supporting a healthcare proposal to make HMOs liable for malpractice. In a statement to the press Lundberg's attorney William Walsh charged that the AMA "has inappropriately intruded into the historically inviolable ground of editorial independence in scientific journalism" and chosen to "sacrifice Dr. Lundberg's distinguished career." He indicated his client may take legal action. Lundberg defended the publication of the survey to CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. The topic of sexual attitudes is "a public health issue," he said. "Doctors have to be explicit or they would get entirely inaccurate information." The research article published in the January 20 JAMA was based on data collected in a 1991 survey of 600 university students conducted by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The questions about attitudes to oral sex were part of a survey containing more than 100 items on various aspects of behavior associated with the transmission of sex-related diseases. Other studies have been published based on aspects of the findings. June M. Reinisch, the retired director of the Kinsey Institute and the author of the JAMA article, explained that various colleagues had urged her to write a paper when the issue of defining sex came up in the Clinton-Starr controversy. She observed that if Lundberg had held up the article he would have been accused of concealing relevant data. "I'm absolutely shocked," she commented after the firing. "This may have to do with issues of academic freedom. There was nothing unusual about the paper." The firing of Lundberg is an attack on free speech and democratic rights. It was entirely legitimate for JAMA to address an issue raised in the course of the current political crisis. It is likely that Reinisch's study is one of the few that provides a clue to prevailing attitudes toward the subject in question. What AMA officials responded to was not the article, but conclusions that the right wing would find objectionable. See Also: Recent killings highlight Republican Party's ties to the extreme right The murder of Dr. Slepian [27 October 1998] Top of page Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1998-99 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From Wash Post Medical Journal Editor Fired Study on Defining Sex Is 'Political,' AMA Boss Says By David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, January 16, 1999; Page A03 The impeachment trial of the president may be only two days into arguments, but it's already cost a person a job at an institution seemingly beyond reach of the Clinton scandal. George D. Lundberg, editor for 17 years of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was summarily fired yesterday morning because of the upcoming publication of an article his boss believes is appearing largely "to exact political leverage" for the president in his current impeachment travail. The paper, based on data collected eight years ago, reveals that in a survey at a midwestern university, only 40 percent of college students would say they'd "had sex" if they participated in an act of oral sex. "Dr. Lundberg . . . has threatened the historic tradition and integrity of the [journal] by inappropriately and inexcusably interjecting JAMA into a major political debate that has nothing to do with science or medicine," said E. Ratcliffe Anderson, executive vice president of the American Medical Association, at a news conference in Chicago. The AMA owns the journal but is not involved in its day-to-day workings. The decision was the "culmination of seven months of observation" during which numerous events caused him to lose confidence in Lundberg, Anderson said. The publication of the sex survey in next week's edition was the only objectionable event he would name. He apologized to anyone who may "feel JAMA has been misused in the midst of the most important congressional debate of this century." The abrupt ouster is the latest controversy within the AMA, an organization that once wielded unparalleled clout in American medical care but has been searching lately for ways to shore up flagging membership rolls, eroding finances and a shaky mission. The firing came slightly more than a year after AMA administrators ignited controversy by signing a deal with the Sunbeam Corp. that for the first time would have allowed the association's logo to be placed on commercial products. The deal was swiftly rescinded, but led to a round of high-level firings within the organization and a lawsuit by Sunbeam that only recently was resolved. Last summer, the AMA weathered a rare rebellion over its leadership, when a Washington physician mounted a strong insurgent campaign to try, unsuccessfully, to defeat the heir apparent to the association's presidency. Anderson was the senior member of a new generation of AMA administrators imported to heal the troubled organization. Yesterday, some officials and members accused him of insensitivity to JAMA's long tradition of editorial independence and predicted the move would reopen barely closed wounds. "If the AMA shot itself in the foot over Sunbeam, they may be committing hara-kiri over George Lundberg," said Raymond Scalettar, who mounted the rebel candidacy to become the organization's president last year. Lundberg, 65, was an unusually high-profile member of the elite fraternity that edits internationally influential medical journals. Other editors and observers of American medicine praised him yesterday for raising JAMA to the front rank of that group. "He was recognized as someone who had taken the journal and turned it around," said Frank Davidoff, editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine. "He hired a spectacular group of editors with very high standards. He worked very, very hard to get a lot of visibility and coverage, and thought that was a major part as his role as an editor." Lundberg did not shrink from espousing -- personally or editorially -- controversial positions on issues. In 1993, for example, he wrote in a JAMA editorial that it would be "immoral" if the Clinton administration's proposed health plan did not quickly include coverage of the uninsured. In 1995, he pushed hard to have violence regarded as a public health problem. Several people interviewed yesterday said Lundberg angered many in the AMA when he asserted in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" that one reason for the low rate of autopsy in the United States is that "some doctors, some medical staffs, are afraid to find out what happened in people who died." Lundberg's attorney released a statement yesterday saying that "it is indeed unfortunate that the [AMA] has chosen to . . . jeopardize the editorial integrity and scientific credibility of [JAMA] . . . for political ends." The three-page "Brief Report" analyzed data collected in 1991 by researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University. Its two authors submitted the manuscript to JAMA in late November, one of them said yesterday, because they perceived there was little objective data informing the national discussion of what constitutes "sex." President Clinton early last year denied that he had "sexual relations" with Monica S. Lewinsky, apparently because the oral sex in which they did engage fell outside his definition of the term. JAMA did not solicit the paper, but did speed its publication. One prominent person in the field said yesterday there "wasn't any doubt that George was a real self-promoter. I think he thought [the upcoming article] would give them terrific publicity. And it did, but the wrong kind, I'm afraid." 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