| RSNJ RFS participates in Tort Reform rally On October 7th, 2003 physicians across the state of New Jersey staged rallies on tort reform and then participated in the first door-to-door campaign to support candidates for the New Jersey state assembly who are in favor of tort reform. Many radiology residents representing the Resident and Fellow Section of the Radiological Society of New Jersey attended the physician rally at Jersey Shore Medical center. For many of these residents, the experience was their first exposure to the political arena and to tort reform issues. Through the numerous speeches and short slogans, these residents returned to their hospitals with renewed interest in the current health care crisis in our state. Subsequently, some residents performed "house calls", where they campaigned door-to-door in Hamilton township for candidates Senator Inverso, Sidna Mitchell, and Bill Baroni. Most of us who attended the house calls were unaware of what to expect from the event. What would be their response to seeing white-coat clad young professionals ringing their doors? Would we get the same response as salesmen or other solicitors? Surprisingly, the response to us was very positive. Most of the people we encountered were aware of the health care crisis from family members who were politically involved, personal experiences, or from conversations they had with their own physicians regarding this issue. Over the following two days, the entire Hamilton township was covered with "house calls". This experience was fruitful for those of us who attended, and demonstrated that the issue of tort reform is also deeply important to those of us in training; after all, this issue and the future of medicine in NJ and also nationwide clearly impacts us. Dr Manzoor Abidi, President elect of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and also Assemblyman and Deputy Speaker Herbert C Conaway, Jr., MD, commended our participation. On behalf of the RSNJ-RFS, we would specially like to thank
Drs. Susie Chen, Sal Parinello, Neil Patil, Vaishali Patel, Ravi Prasad, and Adarsh Verma,
mainly from the Department of Radiology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital,
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, for attending the rally and Drs.
Verma, Patil, and Prasad for assisting with the "house calls." As members of a
very active Resident Fellow Section of the Radiological Society of New Jersey, we look
forward to a greater resident involvement in organized medicine, and contribute in
creating a positive difference for us all. Sincerely, Ravi Shankar Prasad MD Ajay Sood MD |