Election Year 2016 By James M. Hlavacek, MD
President, Monterey County Medical Society
JAMES M. HLAVACEK, MD
MESSAGE FROM THE
MCMS PRESIDENT
President, Monterey County Medical Society
James Hlavacek, MD, is the 2015-2016 president of the Monterey County Medical Society. He is an Anesthesiologist and is currently practicing Chief-of-Staff with Natividad Medical Center, in Monterey, and also practices at George L. Mee Memorial Hospital.
The 2016 election year is in full swing. At the national level we will see a battle between Hillary and Donald. All indications point to the most expensive presidential race costing well over a billion dollars, that is billion with a B! The following are the official tallied results for the MCMS 2016 elections of MCMS Officers, Directors, and “Physician of the Year”: Craig Walls, MD, PhD – President; Max Cuevas, MD – President-Elect; Alfred Sadler, MD – Secretary; Steven Harrison, MD –Treasurer; Philip L. Miller, MD – Director; Raymond Villalobos, MD – Director; and David Ramos, MD – Director. The “Physician of the Year” is Richard Dauphiné, MD. Richard Dauphiné, MD, FACS, is the medical director of the Monterey Sports Medicine Center and a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with 30 years of active surgical experience on the Monterey Peninsula. He has been an MCMS member since 1974. Locally, we have three County Supervisors up for re-election. The MCMS Board has interviewed candidates for Supervisor, as well as those for State Assembly. The Board has had a lively discussion about if we should endorse candidates, and if we do, which candidates should receive donations through our MD-PAC. The majority of the Board members voted to endorse candidates and to send contributions. I am pleased that we have had these discussions and many excellent points of view. The Board is still deciding on its endorsement for Supervisor for the 4th district, so this will not be listed. Here are the endorsed candidates: • Congress: Jimmy Panetta • State Senate: Bill Monning • State Assembly: Anna Caballero • State Assembly: Mark Stone • County Supervisor 1st District: Luis Alejo • County Supervisor 5th District: Dave Potter The Board also sent its endorsement and a contribution to Joaquin Arambula, MD, who is a candidate for the 31st Assembly District. Dr. Arambula is an emergency room physician. I met him at the CMA House of Delegates convention. The Wall Street Journal, weekend edition of May 14-15, ran a front page story about one family’s ordeal with fentanyl. In my anesthesiology practice I administer this medication almost every
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day. I remember when fentanyl was a breakthrough new drug for cardiac anesthesia in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Now fentanyl is the latest addiction due to its ease of manufacture in illegal labs in Mexico and China. Deaths from narcotic overdose in 2014 were 18,893! The death of rock star Prince is thought to be from a narcotic overdose. This epidemic is proving to be very difficult to treat. The Zika virus is also threatening to become an epidemic. The Senate has passed legislation to provide emergency funding of $ 1.1 billion for both international and domestic control and prevention efforts to fight the outbreak of the Zika cases. Also in the Wall Street Journal, the number of uninsured people in the USA is now below 10% of the population. Approximately 28.6 million people were uninsured in 2015. The Obama administration celebrated this accomplishment citing the Affordable Care Act, which has driven the number of uninsured people down from 16%, in 2010, when the health law was enacted. On the ballot, this November, will be the California Tobacco Tax for Healthcare, Research and Prevention Act. This ballot initiative would increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2. California’s tax on cigarettes ranks 33rd in the country. It has been proven elsewhere that increasing the tax on cigarettes decreases smoking and prevents young people from starting to smoke. The CMA, American Heart Association, California Hospital Association, and other organizations are proponents of this act. As I wind up my time as your President, I want to thank all the members of the MCMS for their support and guidance. I also want to thank our leadership team headed by Bill Parrish, Jean Cassetta, Leslie Sorensen, Pam Jensen, and Sandie Moore. The year has gone by very quickly. The Medical Society and CMA do so much for all physicians. Let’s try and bring more members into the fold. I hope you will all join me at the annual meeting and dinner. We are honored that Ruth Haskins, MD, President-Elect of the CMA will be our keynote speaker. The dinner is at Corral de Tierra Country Club on Thursday, June 16th. Hope to see you there!