One thing is for certain. When society gives power of diagnosis and treatment to individuals within a group schooled in just one uncompromising model of addiction with the majority attributing their very own sobriety to that model, they will exercise that power to diagnose and treat anyone and everyone according to that model. The birth of Addiction Medicine as an ABMS accepted discipline is sure to be a success for the drug and alcohol testing and 12-step treatment industry, but its spawn is sure to be an inauspicious mark on the Profession and Guild of Medicine and a bane of society for years to come.
Educational and Professional Standards in Medical Specialties and Subspecialties
The increasingly rapid growth and complexity of medical knowledge in twentieth century American medicine resulted in the creation of specialties and subspecialties.
A related development was the creation of “boards” to “certify” physicians as knowledgeable and competent in the specialties and subspecialties in which they claimed to have expertise. The American Board of Ophthalmology, organized in 1917, was the first of these.
As the number of medical specialties proliferated an umbrella organization was formed to accomplish this task. The Advisory Board for Medical Specialties was created in 1933 and reorganized as the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in 1970. This non-profit organization oversees board certification of all physician specialists and sub-specialists in the United States.
The ABMS recognizes 24 medical specialties in which physicians can pursue additional training and education to pursue Board Certification.
In 1991 the American Board of Medical Genetics was…
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Disrupted Physician 