WASHINGTON – Family doctors who do not support the alliance between the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Coca-Cola Company were unable to convince their peers to break up that union.
The final vote on the resolution introduced by the Maryland and Rhode Island chapters was 72-20 in favor of the academy considering a renewal of the relationship in late 2015.
Alicia Ault/Frontline Medical News
The Congress of Delegates rejected a resolution calling on AAFP to not renew its relationship with the Coca-Cola Company.
Dr. Robert E. Reneker Jr., a delegate from Michigan, said that he was voting in favor of the relationship based on its financial benefits. However, he added, “the board, our leadership, should understand this: You need to extract us from Coke as soon as it is financially viable and actually actively work to do that. I will vote against this resolution this year, but I am not going to keep giving you a pass on this. Get us out of Coke.”
Delegates voted by consent to accept a number of committee recommendations, including not adopting resolutions on forming a task force to examine proportional representation within the Congress of Delegates; that family medicine physicians be referred to as physicians and not health care providers; and changes to awarding a title of fellow that would recognize a student’s medical school membership toward the 6-year requirement.
Delegates referred for further investigation resolutions examining the language of the oath of AAFP fellows, specifically the clause to placing patient “welfare above all else” and that the AAFP use the International System of Units throughout its journals, publications, and clinical communications and present a similar resolution to the American Medical Association.