Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

During the winter of 1943, the medical committee of Lake County, Indiana, and the conservative National Physicians Committee opposed the newly proposed Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, that if passed, would provide government health care for most U.S. citizens. The American Medical Association (AMA) had just been convicted, in the Supreme Court, of conspiring to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, which meant the AMA's legislation influence was hamstrung. The association began a membership drive in February 1944. By May 1944, the AAPS claimed members from all 48 states. In 1944, Time reported that the group's aim was the "defeat of any Government group medicine."

In 1966, The New York Times described AAPS as an "ultra-right-wing... political-economic rather than a medical group", and said some of its leaders were members of the John Birch Society. On October 6, 1978, Ronald Reagan gave an address at the 35th annual meeting of AAPS in Denver, Colorado where he said "Government is not the answer. Government is the problem."

In 2002, AAPS said that its members included Ron Paul, John Cooksey and Paul Broun. Ron Paul's son, Rand Paul, was a member for over two decades until his election to the U.S. Senate. They reportedly had about 4,000 members in 2005, and 5,000 in 2014.

The executive director is Jane Orient, an internist and a member of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. She is also a supporter and political donor to conservative interest group Eagle Forum. She has said that government vaccine mandates are "a serious intrusion into individual liberty, autonomy and parental decisions."

Controversies

COVID-19 and hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine was an early failed experimental treatment for COVID-19. It is not effective for preventing infection. Several countries initially used chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for treatment of persons hospitalized with COVID-19, and from April to June 2020, there was an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its use in the United States, and was used off label for potential treatment of the disease. On 24 April 2020, citing the risk of "serious heart rhythm problems", the FDA posted a caution against using the drug for COVID-19 "outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial".

In June, hydroxychloroquine proved to have no benefit for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 illness in the international Solidarity trial and UK RECOVERY Trial. On 15 June, the FDA revoked a previously granted EUA, stating that it was "no longer reasonable to believe" that the drug was effective against COVID-19 or that its benefits outweighed "known and potential risks".

In the same month, AAPS filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration to "end its arbitrary interference with the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)." The group's position was used to justify President Donald Trump taking HCQ as protection against COVID-19 by his campaign manager Brad Parscale. Several AAPS members and supporters went on the record advocating for HCQ as an effective treatment against COVID-19, led by Ukrainian-American physician Vladimir Zelenko with a three-drug regimen of off-label hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Azithromycin as part of an experimental outpatient treatment for COVID-19 that became known as the Zelenko Protocol. Early in the pandemic, the experimental treatment had received broad recognition from Sean Hannity, Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows, elevating Zelenko to minor celebrity status in conservative political circles. Other prominent AAPS-affiliated advocates include Simone Gold of America's Frontline Doctors, Niran Al-Agba of Physicians for Patient Protection, and former AAPS president Marilyn Singleton.

Electronic medical records

AAPS has claimed that computers and the digitization of medical records provides an opportunity for the government to acquire massive amounts of private data on American citizens. The group's executive director, Jane Orient, submitted their official statement to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics on December 8, 1998. The statement said the benefits of computerized patient records were "based on assumptions that are implausible" and would "violate constitutional rights." AAPS compared electronic medical records to the data surveillance methods of the East German Stasi.

Rush Limbaugh drug charges

In 2004, AAPS filed a brief on behalf of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh in Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal, opposing the seizure of his medical files in an investigation of drug charges for Limbaugh's alleged misuse of prescription drugs. The AAPS stated the seizure was a violation of state law and that "It is not a crime for a patient to be in pain and repeatedly seek relief, and doctors should not be turned against patients they tried to help."

Tobacco

Philip Morris executives worked with AAPS executive director Jane Orient to help oppose growing support for indoor smoking bans in the early 2000s.