Constitutional Protection of Medical Diversity

T. Jefferson and G. Washington's physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, wanted the Constitution to include special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom. Jefferson said. "If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls who live under tyranny". Dr. Rush said "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize it to an underground dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a republic. The Constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom".

Health consumers demand a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing freedom to choose among health systems freely; and diverse health professionals to practice freely with the same licensing and insurance benefits as allopathic doctors and hospitals; without government or organized medical opposition.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned