{"id":190018,"date":"2023-09-24T16:09:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T21:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ovh-stage.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2\/"},"modified":"2023-09-24T16:09:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T20:28:31","slug":"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Dabbs &#8211; Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tank-Dueling-Doctors-4.jpeg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177200\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tank-Dueling-Doctors-4.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tank-Dueling-Doctors-4-400x232.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tank-Dueling-Doctors-4-150x87.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/tank-Dueling-Doctors-4-768x445.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One might be forgiven for thinking that the American Medical Association had been forever populated by level-headed altruistic practitioners of the healing arts focused solely on the elimination of human suffering. Reality was something else entirely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"yoast-reading-time__wrapper\"><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__icon\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-icon=\"clock\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" style=\"display:inline-block;vertical-align:-0.1em\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" stroke-width=\"2\" d=\"M12 8v4l3 3m6-3a9 9 0 11-18 0 9 9 0 0118 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__spacer\" style=\"display:inline-block;width:1em\"><\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__descriptive-text\">Estimated reading time:  <\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__reading-time\">11<\/span><span class=\"yoast-reading-time__time-unit\"> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to its website, the American Medical Association is the, \u201cLargest and only national association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their stated mission is to, \u201cPromote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.\u201d I\u2019m a physician, but I\u2019m not a member of the AMA. Lots of other doctors aren\u2019t, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.15.06-PM-1024x838-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr Dabbs in his scrubs aiming a firearm\" class=\"wp-image-177208\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I guess it goes without saying, but not all doctors look at life the same way I do. Good for them. The big difference between them and me is that I&#8217;m not trying to force them to change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;<em>Physicians Weekly,<\/em>&nbsp;only 15-18% of American physicians were paying members of the AMA in 2015. The AMA pads its membership numbers with free enrollments for medical students and residents, but most practicing physicians are not members of the organization. In my case, my decision to divest from the AMA was driven by some fundamental disagreements over policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leftists are forever foisting their ideals upon others. They really cannot seem to help it. People will always disagree&#8211;that\u2019s part of the human condition. However, some people become so entrenched in their own worldviews that they simply cannot rest until the rest of humanity falls into line. By contrast, I don\u2019t much care what other folks do so long as they just leave me alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><h2>Table of contents<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"#h-the-american-medical-association\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">The American Medical Association<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-background\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">Background<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-the-medical-problem\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">The Medical &#8220;Problem&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-the-solution\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">The Solution<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-read-more-dr-dabbs-ralph-goranson-the-real-captain-miller\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">READ MORE: Dr. Dabbs \u2013 Ralph Goranson: The Real Captain Miller<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-the-duel\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">The Duel<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-what-happened\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">What Happened<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-the-rest-of-the-story\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">The Rest of the Story<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-what-the-medical-association-means-now\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" data-level=\"2\">What The Medical Association Means Now<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-american-medical-association\">The American Medical Association<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I need a professional organization that applies collective influence to restrain greedy health insurance companies, lobby the government on my behalf, and confront predatory plaintiff\u2019s attorneys, not champion left-wing political causes. However, AMA\u2019s policy paper H-145.993 dated 2018 states that, \u201cOur AMA supports appropriate legislation that would restrict the sale and private ownership of inexpensive handguns commonly referred to as &#8220;Saturday night specials,&#8221; and large clip, high-rate-of-fire automatic and semi-automatic firearms, or any weapon that is modified or redesigned to operate as a large clip, high-rate-of-fire automatic or semi-automatic weapon and ban the sale and ownership to the public of all&nbsp;assault-type&nbsp;weapons, bump stocks and related devices, high capacity magazines and armor-piercing bullets.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.13.02-PM-1024x636-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr Dabbs in camo with his large clip, high-rate-of-fire firearm\" class=\"wp-image-177207\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I guess this handsome rascal is wielding a &#8220;Large clip, high-rate-of-fire automatic and semi-automatic firearm.&#8221; That&#8217;s just sad&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLarge clip, high-rate-of-fire automatic and semi-automatic firearms.\u201d Um, yeah. In our world that\u2019s the mark of somebody who hasn\u2019t a clue what they\u2019re talking about. Good luck adjudicating that one in court. Additionally, their take on abortion and a few other hot-button issues makes the AMA ineligible for my support. There\u2019s really no reason for the AMA to take official positions on stuff like that, but, like I said, they really can\u2019t seem to help it. That\u2019s one of the big reasons 82% of practicing physicians aren\u2019t members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To their credit, misguided though they may be, the underlying impetus is indeed altruistic. All physicians, even the crappy ones, are initially drawn to the profession out of a desire to help people. It\u2019s kind of what we do. Sometimes that sense of altruism gets beaten out of you over time, but we all start out in roughly the same place philosophically. To a degree, the AMA reflects that ethos. However, that\u2019s not the space from which the American Medical Association first arose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-background\">Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s pretty tough to get into medical school these days. It\u2019s even tougher to stay there once you get in. However, that was not always the case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"856\" height=\"628\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.08.16-PM.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177204\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The practice of medicine was not so cluttered back in the early 1800&#8217;s. Folks seemed better at just dying gracefully when things went pear-shaped.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in the early 1800\u2019s, medical training wasn\u2019t a grueling competition followed by seven to ten years of soul-sucking misery. Back then becoming a doctor was actually pretty easy. Of course, your primary diagnostic and therapeutic modalities were typically limited to stuff like bleeding sick people white, tasting their urine for sugar, and administering tobacco smoke enemas. There just wasn\u2019t so much to learn back then. As a result, there were professional practitioners of the healing arts just about everywhere. They frequently pulled teeth, embalmed bodies, and cut hair on the side just to make ends meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.11.09-PM-1024x623-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177206\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Doctors didn&#8217;t seem to take themselves quite so seriously two centuries ago. Much of that was because there really weren&#8217;t many tools in the professional toolbox.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-medical-problem\">The Medical &#8220;Problem&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early part of the 19<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;century, America was churning out five times as many physicians per capita as was Europe. The practice of medicine was a sweet hustle, and lots of folks wanted in on the racket. Eventually, there weren\u2019t enough sick people to go around. The resulting competition resulted in some surprisingly dangerous levels of vitriol. One Philadelphia sawbones of the era lamented that his colleagues, \u201cLived in an almost constant state of warfare.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was not unusual for these professional healers to come to blows over the right to treat some person or another. Considering the global life expectancy during this sordid period was only 29, there just wasn\u2019t enough business to go around. Sometimes things got out of hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-solution\">The Solution <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"779\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Benjamin-Dudley.jpeg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177201\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This is Dr. Benjamin Dudley. He got his feelings hurt when somebody alleged that he had done a poor job of cutting up a dead body and went a bit psycho. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One fine summer day in 1818, Dr. Benjamin Dudley had just wrapped up an otherwise routine autopsy. A fellow practitioner named Dr. Drake took issue with some of his methods. Tempers flared until Dr. Dudley felt that his honor had been impugned. He therefore formally challenged Dr. Drake to a duel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-read-more-dr-dabbs-ralph-goranson-the-real-captain-miller\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/ralph-goranson-the-real-captain-miller\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\">Dr. Dabbs \u2013 Ralph Goranson: The Real Captain Miller<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Then as now, dueling as a means of settling grievances did not exactly enjoy universal appeal. In fact, Dr. Drake opposed the practice on principle. However, in an example of just how weird things were back then, a third physician named Dr. William Richardson volunteered to take Drake\u2019s place on the field of honor. That either meant that Doctors Drake and Williamson were really, really good friends or that Dr. Dudley was just a jerk in desperate need of a trouncing. Regardless, the stage was set for an epic scrap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.17.27-PM-1024x762-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177209\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Folks whacked each other over some of the stupidest things back in the day. Dueling sets like this were do-it-yourself shooting people kits built specifically for this purpose.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dueling was well frowned upon by the authorities of the day. Even if you were fortunate enough not to be shot to death, there was a fair possibility that the surviving duelist would nonetheless be arrested. However, these guys were clever and conjured up a brilliant remedy. The two men&#8211;the offended party and the stand-in&#8211;therefore set a date along with a unique location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-duel\">The Duel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dueling was quite a social event, so both men arrived on the appointed day with a generous array of friends and strap hangers. Local surgeons and their flunkies were well represented. The location for the fight was to be a curious spot in Central Kentucky some 6.5 miles west of Lexington near the Transylvania Medical School. This was not the first time locals had need of such a venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.20.46-PM-1024x706-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177210\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Arguably the most notorious duel in modern history was the 1804 match between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This location was chosen with great care. Once they got their affairs in order, one man stood in Scott County, while the other arranged himself in Fayette. The county line demarcated between the two. If they should be discovered conducting an illegal duel, the fact that each perpetrator was in a separate county made local prosecution all but impossible. How clever was that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As decorum demanded, each man deferentially bowed to his opponent while their seconds loaded pistols. They carefully arranged themselves on the appropriate pieces of turf, while someone tossed a coin to determine who would do what. Both men took up their single-shot dueling weapons and stared deeply into their opponent\u2019s eyes. When the time was right, whoever was running this freak show commanded, \u201cFire!\u201d and both men touched off their pistols at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"762\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/William-Richardson.jpeg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177202\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This is Dr. William Richardson. His willingness to stand in for a friend during a duel very nearly got him killed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-happened\">What Happened<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dudley was unharmed, but the stand-in Dr. Richardson caught a ball in the groin. The injured man fell ignominiously to the ground in a heap. The nearest physician leapt into action but was unable to staunch the bleeding. Apparently, a significant femoral vessel had been violated, and now this kindly volunteer was trying desperately to bleed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Dudley\u2019s healing spirit regained sway, and he was at the injured patient\u2019s side in moments. Dudley slowed the bleeding with direct pressure and then sewed the damaged plumbing on the spot. In so doing he addressed the wound he had moments before inflicted and saved the poor fellow\u2019s life. It&#8217;s rare that a duelist might push aside all ideological differences in order to save the life of a man who had so recently been trying to kill him. What a bizarre turn of events&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-rest-of-the-story\">The Rest of the Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.19.20-PM-1024x751-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177211\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">It is indeed strange that the AMA technically had its origins in such blood-soaked violence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That sordid duel precipitated a curious sequence of events that ultimately led to the formation of the American Medical Association as an exclusive social club of sorts. Concerned physicians appreciated that such antics reflected poorly on the professional credibility of doctors everywhere. As a result, by the mid-1840s, local docs began meeting informally to air their grievances and decompress, ideally before anything got out of hand. In 1847, these physicians formally established the American Medical Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AMA fostered collegiality and helped begin regulating some of the insane medical treatments in common use at the time. Thus began the slow slog toward evidence-based medicine that drives our profession today. Despite all that other stuff, however, one of the earliest mandates of the AMA was to, \u201cFoster\u2026friendly intercourse between doctors.\u201d That word clearly meant something different back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.26.33-PM-1024x897-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177213\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">I initially got into medicine for the glamor&#8230;I&#8217;m kidding. Being a doctor is actually pretty darn gross.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-the-medical-association-means-now\">What The Medical Association Means Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nowadays those who can <em>do<\/em>, and those who can\u2019t <em>administrate<\/em>. The practice of medicine is a really busy gig. In my own clinic, lunch is a luxury. Those of us living amidst COVID-19, flu, hemorrhoids, and venereal diseases frequently lack the discretionary time to pontificate much about social justice. This can lead those who reliably attend conferences with like-minded souls to believe that everybody feels as do they. That simply is not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screen-Shot-2023-03-19-at-5.23.40-PM-1024x616-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" class=\"wp-image-177212\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The classic Old West shootout was simply a duel. The killing of Davis Tutt by Wild Bill Hickok in 1865 was the archetypal example.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether it is the AMA, the NRA, the AFL-CIO, or any number of other storied alphabet organizations that might have been around long enough to have outlasted their welcome, they often lose touch with the little guy for whom they\u2019re supposed to advocate. Having perused their policy statements, one could be forgiven in the Information Age for presuming that the AMA had forever been a hotbed of anti-gun liberalism. However, the reality is far stranger. The American Medical Association technically had its earliest origins in two physicians who tried mightily to snuff each other\u2019s mortal flicker at the muzzle of a handgun. Fortunately one of the pugilists ultimately chose to save life that day rather than take it. Sometimes it\u2019s indeed a weird old world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:24px\"><strong><em>*** <a href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"clickTracking\" campaign=\"dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\" title=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a> ***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reality is strange. The American Medical Association technically had its earliest origins in two physicians who tried mightily to snuff each other\u2019s mortal flicker at the muzzle of a handgun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":192625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,772],"tags":[132,102,636,1103,2836],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-190018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-buzz","10":"tag-feature-articles","11":"tag-history","12":"tag-medical","13":"tag-will-dabbs"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dr Dabbs- Dueling Doctors: The Violent Origins Of A Medical Club<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two doctors had it out for each other, and after a strange duel, they went on to form the American Medical Association.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/dueling-doctors-the-curiously-violent-origins-of-the-american-medical-association-2__trashed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Dabbs - Dueling Doctors: The Curiously Violent Origins of the AMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reality is strange. 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