OUR SPECTACULAR VICTORIES FOR FREEDOM IN MEDICINE
In 2027 we will achieve even more … with your generous support!
2026 has been a banner year for our efforts for medical freedom, as we recently explained at our wonderful 83rd annual meeting near Atlanta.It was exhilarating seeing so many of you there in Georgia!
Included among our many recent victories was our appellate triumph over the “knock at the door,” which is the dreaded search of a physician’s medical practice without a warrant. After a lively, contentious oral argument in March in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, the judges ruled unanimously in our favor.
Based on our legal arguments in our briefs and in person at the historic, century-old Fifth Circuit courthouse, this renowned Court set the precedent for freedom in medicine that we sought: there is liability by the government when it performs a search of a physician’s clinic without a search warrant. A mere administrative subpoena from the medical board, unsigned by a judge, is not enough.
AAPS is the only organization that has ever put a medical board on federal trial, which we did before Covid. Since then, the Texas Medical Board has known that we’d be back if it abused its power against physicians as it had in the past.
Now we’re going to federal trial again in Texas, this time against the government agent who performed an illegal search of a good physician’s affordable care clinic.Confidential patient records, including patients’ sexual histories, were rifled through by Texas government agents without proper authorization or justification.
AAPS is physicians’ strongest – and often only – ally against abuse of power by medical boards, prosecutors, investigators, auditors, hospitals, insurance companies and everyone else who infringes on private medicine.We are the organization that never sleeps, as we fight for you in courthouses nationwide, from the small to the grandiose.
Next we went back to New Orleans in April for an appellate oral argument in another landmark case. We await a decision any day in this case that we hope will save private medicine from tyranny by the specialty boards that control board certification.
As you know, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and other specialty boards have been revoking and threatening to revoke board certification of eminent physicians based on their freedom of speech. We explained at oral argument in the FIfth Circuit that this is a direct infringement on the democratic process.
In these appeals, our longtime General Counsel had to argue our case against nearly a half-dozen attorneys on the other side. It is only with your support that we are able to achieve so much, so efficiently. Please contribute generously so we can achieve more for our medical profession!
Next we turn to sham peer review, where AAPS has been the leader for 35 years. No other group helps a physician who is victimized by a sham peer review ambush at a hospital as we do.
Sham peer review and reports to the National Practitioner Data Bank are a top priority for our members, and for our legal efforts. This is the #1 reason why physicians call us, and join AAPS today.
We have 35 years of experience on this issue. For decades, most other groups denied that sham peer review, by which a hospital unfairly accuses and removes a good physician from its medical staff, even happens.
This issue affects all of us as patients. Even if we do not practice in a hospital, we are all likely to need a hospital as a patient and it is important to preserve access to physicians who can exercise their honest, independent judgment without fear of retaliation by a sham peer review.
Tyranny by hospitals is one of the biggest threats to the practice of medicine and patient care. Only AAPS has the experience, energy, and determination to stand up against this.
We filed our first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit against the infringement on due process by the tyrannical National Practitioner Data Bank. The approach taken by the Data Bank has been essentially this: the bureaucrats think the physician should always lose.
So we are putting the Data Bank’s anti-physician rules and conduct before a judge in court in Fort Worth, Texas, far from the federal home-court advantage in Washington, D.C. We are going to end the unfair procedures by the Data Bank which have harmed more than a million good physicians.
For example, shortly before our annual meeting we heard from a second physician victimized by intentional infection of his materials used in surgery. The first instance of this was well-documented in our AAPS Journal and proven by an expert by the CDC to have been deliberate contamination of irrigation fluid in order to cause a removal of the good physician from the hospital.
Now it has happened again at a different hospital, and the victim has turned to the experts on this: us, with your support. This evil by a wrongdoer at a hospital, targeting an innocent, unsuspecting physician, does not fool us and we know what steps need to be taken next as we protect good physicians and patients against wrongdoers.
We remain the oldest and most consistent defender of private, ethical medicine in the world, and with your support we’ll continue for another 83 years. Unlike “organized medicine,” AAPS is not controlled by Big Pharma and Big Government.
There is no time for rest. We received word during our annual meeting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has scheduled oral argument in January on our challenge to Walgreens for refusing to fill prescriptions by good physicians.
When pharmacies blacklist a physician by placing him without due process on a “do not fill” list, it is as harmful as being improperly added to a “do not fly” list. The tyrannical pharmacies are directly interfering with patient care and practicing medicine without a medical license, which of course pharmacies are not authorized to do.
Ordinarily the Eleventh Circuit presides in Atlanta, but for our case it is convening in Florida where this case arose. Walgreens seeks to hide behind the State of Florida by saying that their settlement agreement requires Walgreens to blacklist physicians, but there is nothing of the sort in these agreements between states and pharmacy chains.
Many of our members encountered refusal by pharmacies to fill prescriptions during Covid, and arrogant pharmacists have increasingly tried to play doctor while they lack the knowledge, training, expertise, and licensure to make medical decisions. “Where did you go to medical school?” is a pointed question that a physician could ask a pharmacist the next time he or she refuses to fill a prescription.
So pack your beach gear and join us in the federal courthouse in Miami as we explain to federal appellate judges that physicians have the authority to prescribe medication, and pharmacists have the duty to fill the prescriptions. Arbitrary decisions to block physicians should not emanate from a corporate pharmacy headquarters.
Meanwhile, the issue of the notorious FinCEN reporting requirement reared its ugly head again, during our annual meeting in Alpharetta, Georgia. The Feds are trying to dismiss the pending litigation by us and others against FinCEN based on mootness.
You do not have to report ownership information about your medical practice to FinCEN, thanks to our lawsuit and similar ones by others. But the federal statute is still on the books to require this, so it is not enough for the feds to say “never mind.”
The day after our annual meeting, we filed a strong opposition to the government’s attempt to declare the lawsuits to be moot. We were the only organization to file an amicus brief against the Feds’ motion to dismiss!
We know the Feds’ tricks, and we explained them to the Court. The Feds said FinCEN will cooperate with another agency to delete personal records it shouldn’t have, but we explained the other agency is independent and won’t act without a court order.
Our prominence is such that multiple State Attorneys General have requested an amicus brief by our attorney in the high-profile Kalshi lawsuits in federal appellate courts. The New Jersey Attorney General’s office requested an amicus brief by us on its pending petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, which is very complimentary.
The High Court is likely to “grant cert.” after reading our amicus brief, in which we explain the legal errors that opened the floodgates to predatory commercialized sports gambling. Gambling addiction is a medical problem recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and correlates with the highest rate of suicide.
Finally, medical freedom depends on freedom of speech in teaching and attending CME courses, which is required by nearly every state to maintain a medical license. AAPS plans to challenge CME tyranny that is censoring candid instruction.
Our recent AAPS conference was CME-accredited, which means we had to jump through the hoops of censorship that are becoming increasingly restrictive. Our attendees cheered when we vowed not to cave into the demands of the censors.
With your support, we can bring a First Amendment challenge to the CME censorship that is happening nationwide. AAPS has led and won on the First Amendment before, as when we strengthened the constitutional right to hear in 2024, and we can do this again to end CME tyranny.
For our work for medical freedom, we depend on your generous support. The more you can donate, the more we can do for physicians, patients, and our country.
The more lawsuits and briefs that we file, the greater the legal expenses. But we give you a bigger bang for your buck than any other organization. Together we can overcome very powerful and lavishly funded forces that infringe on private medicine.
Founded in 1943, AAPS is the oldest continuously active pro-freedom group in the world. Medicine is always at the tip of the spear in the struggle against tyranny.
Only we have 83 years of commitment and experience to save the profession of medicine and our cherished freedoms. With your kind support, we will continue to triumph over those who deceptively seek to control physicians and patients.
Please be as generous as you can. Thank you so very much!!
Sincerely, Jane M. Orient, MD
P.S. Founded in 1943, AAPS is the oldest and strongest entity that stands up for freedom. With your generous donations can we achieve even more in 2027, and build on our successes in 2026! There are so many powerful forces against physicians today: government, medical boards, specialty boards, pharmacies, hospitals, insurance companies, the media, and others. If you can kindly donate at least $300, we can expand for physicians and patients alike. Any donation is appreciated.
P.P.S. By donating generously now in 2026, you can take the tax deduction this year.Thank you!!!!