MEDICAL CRUSADER
Seham, Dr. Max
Medical Crusader Crusading Doctor, by Doctor Michael A. Shadid. Meador Publishing Co. 312 pp. $3. Reviewed by Dr. Max Seham THE autobiography of Michael A. Shadid, M.D., father of cooperative...
...Here, with student friends, he joined in stimulating discussions on the new social and political movements—socialism, trade unionism, and consumer cooperation...
...Shadid's Herculean accomplishment in behalf of cooperative medicine when I take exception to certain intemperate criticism he makes of the medical profession...
...Although he became a highly competent and successful general practitioner and surgeon, he held fast to his purpose of bringing hight quik medicine to all the people...
...In 1931, the county medical society voted to disband and reorganize without including Dr...
...By 1940 the crusade was accomplished, and Dr...
...Shadid the hero of unquestionable stature...
...Knowledge of these movements, plus his own experiences, eventuated in a life-long dedication to the social and physical well-being of the common people...
...Louis...
...During these years of establishing the cooperative, Dr...
...Shadid decided to run for Congress with the hope of fostering medical cooperatives through enabling federal legislation...
...When, in 1929, the twenty doctor...
...There can be no question that it took a Dr...
...To meet expenses he sacrificed his own salary...
...Readers of the book will be aghast at the subsequent name-calling and professional violence...
...He has vigorously helped to put his ideas into practice in many places, here and abroad...
...Shadid is no longer a horned devil...
...Shadid in its new membership, in order to revoke his license...
...Shadid carried his plan to the people, Thus was born the first medical cc* operative—a plan owned entirely by the membership, and functioning under the general management of a duly elected lay board...
...The medical stage is set in Elk City, Oklahoma...
...He lost the Congressional race, but he claims a record for the number of lies spread about him...
...Although I am deeply sympathetic with the injustices he suffered, and readily admit that organized medicine has some shameful history, certainly the average doctor is no less ethical or competent than the average lawyer, engineer, or business man, I cannot believe about surgeons that today "there is a substantial minoria who capitalize upon the ignorance of the people and betray their confl I belive it is an over simpli-ation of our socio-economic-politi-yuylems when the great blame npasse in medical economics upon medicine alone...
...Shadid was hard put to secure doctors willing to risk association with his plan...
...Laying the groundwork required courage, fight, and sure-footedness...
...The governor was so moved by the whole situation that he promised the people no doctor on the staff of the Elk City Community Hospital would have to surrender his license solely because of his affiliation with the medical cooperative...
...The fighting hero, now 74 years old, was born in Lebanon amidst abject poverty...
...in his county refused to have any truck with his consumer's cooperative plan for prepaid medical care, Dr...
...At 16, he arrived in New York City equipped with a degree from American University of Beirut, where he was inspired with a burning desire to become a doctor of medicine...
...In his chosen new country he peddled cheap French jewelry from door to door, town to town, until he had earned sufficient money to enter Washington University, St...
...The hospital-healthcare plan he founded in Oklahoma is solvent, top quality, and secure in the esteem of all the community...
...Max Seham THE autobiography of Michael A. Shadid, M.D., father of cooperative medicine, is a thrilling suspense drama...
...I do not diminish Dr...
...he is a beloved citizen...
...Shadid appealed to Governor "Alfalfa Bill" Murray...
...Area doctors are the villains, farmers and townspeople the supporting cast, and Dr...
...However, there followed four years of litigation before the State Board of Medical Examiners dropped charges of unprofessional conduct...
...Here, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, he learned the best medicine available...
...Shadid to force the relentless crusade which helped to resolve some of our socio-economic medical problems...
Vol. 21 • September 1957 • No. 9
