January 1, 1999

APA President Rodrigo Muņoz, M.D., called for a moment of silence at a meeting of the AMA Section Council on Psychiatry in Honolulu December 4 to commemorate a psychiatrist killed by a patient the day before.

Christina Gabriele Smith, M.D., was shot to death by a psychiatric patient on December 3 at Parkway Regional Medical Center in North Miami Beach, Fla., according to a report by the Associated Press.

"It's a very sad state of affairs when our members are in continual danger in their day-to-day practice of medicine," said Muņoz. "This tragic death highlights the dedication of psychiatrists who face serious danger in their commitment to help some of society's most disturbed people."

The Section Council on Psychiatry meets twice yearly before the meetings of the AMA House of Delegates.

Concern over several recent killings of physicians was echoed by AMA Executive Vice President E. Ratcliffe Anderson Jr., M.D., at the opening session of the AMA House of Delegates on December 6.

"This senseless loss of life must not continue, and the AMA is working at the highest levels to put an end to it," said Anderson. "While we willingly dedicate our lives to our patients, the practice of medicine should never, not ever, become a life-threatening occupation."

The U.S. Department of Justice has, at the AMA's request, agreed to support a multiagency task force on violence against physicians, according to Anderson.