Wilk v. American Medical Association: Encyclopedia - Wilk v. American Medical Association

Wilk v. American Medical Association

Wilk v. American Medical Association was a federal antitrust suit brought against the American Medical Association and 10 co-defendants by chiropractor Chester A. Wilk, DC, and four co-plaintiffs.

Until 1983, the AMA had made it unethical for medical doctors to refer patients to chiropractors, by classifying chiropractic as unscientific. Prior to 1980, Principle 3 of the AMA Principles of Medical Ethics stated: "A physician should practice a method of healing founded on a scientific basis; and he should not voluntarily professionally associate with anyone who violates this principle." Also, up until 1974, the AMA had a Committee on Quackery which openly challenged what it considered to be many unscientific forms of healing. In response to this, some chiropractors started to develop a scientific foundation for their field and to confine their claims to what the scientific evidence showed their treatments were actually capable of achieving. They also fought back in the courts.

In 1976, Chester Wilk and three other chiropractors sued the AMA, several nationwide healthcare associations, and several physicians for violations of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The plaintiffs lost at the first trial in 1981, then obtained a new trial on appeal in 1983 because of improper jury instructions and admission of irrelevant and prejudicial evidence (Wilk v. American Medical Ass'n, 735 F.2d 217, 7th Cir. 1983).

Just before the second trial, the plaintiffs suddenly dropped their demand for damages and sought only an injunction. Therefore, the resulting trial in May and June of 1987 was a bench trial in which Judge Susan Getzendanner personally heard the evidence and made factual findings.

On September 25, 1987, Getzendanner issued her opinion that the AMA had violated Section 1, but not 2, of the Sherman Act, and that it had engaged in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade (Wilk v. American Medical Ass'n, 671 F. Supp. 1465, N.D. Ill. 1987). She issued a permanent injunction under Section 16 of the Clayton Act. However, she exonerated the two other remaining defendants, the Joint Council on Accreditation of Hospitals and the American College of Physicians, and dismissed them from the case. Judge Getzendanner also went out of her way to make clear what she was not doing:

Both sides cross-appealed, and the district court's decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals on February 7, 1990 (Wilk v. American Medical Ass'n, 895 F.2d 352, 7th Cir. 1990). The AMA petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court three times, but each time the Court denied certiorari (on June 11, August 13, and November 26, 1990). However, it is important to not read too much into such denials, as the Court grants certiorari only when a case presents a novel question of law, and the Wilk case was a straightforward application of the Sherman Act.

The AMA eliminated Principle 3 in 1980 during a major revision of ethical rules (and while the Wilk litigation was in progress). Its replacement stated that a physician "shall be free to choose whom to serve, with whom to associate, and the environment in which to provide medical services." Thus, the AMA now permits medical doctors to refer patients to doctors of chiropractic for such manipulative therapy if the medical doctor believes it is in the best interests of the patients. As noted by Judge Getzendanner, the AMA also took credit during the Wilk litigation for forcing chiropractors to put their own field on a sounder theoretical footing.

Categories: Wikipedia articles needing context | Articles lacking sources | 1987 in law | Antitrust | Court cases | Chiropractic | American Medical Association

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