For All the People

Letter from Leonidas H. Berry to Morton I. Grossman, MD, Los Angeles, California, president-elect,

American Gastroenterological Association, responding to a questionnaire regarding why some diplomates of the American Board of Gastroenterology are not members; Berry summarizes his extensive education and training as a gastroenterologist and notes that he was sponsored for membership over 12 years but eventually withdrew his application due to considerable embarrassment; meanwhile several of his students have been admitted to membership; "after thirty years as a gastroenterologist, I have no malice in my heart for being systematically denied a place on the stage, or in the mainstreams with fellow gastroenterologists, the principal organization of Americans in this specialty, which by virtue of its name and activities has assumed the national and world image of encompassing and representing all qualified gastroenterologists in America."

Courtesy National Library of Medicine