Dr. Baruch Brody
believes physicians
should discuss
medical ethics and
Judaism.

resuscitated its

M.D. I D.O. arm.

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

"Increased giving comes
out of education and en-
lightenment about the
good work Federation does
here and abroad," said Dr.
Goldberg, who serves as
Maimonides chairman. Dr.
Raina Ernstoff serves as
associate chair.
Detroit's Maimonides
Society began decades ago,
but fizzled out in recent
years. (It is not to be con-
fused with the Maimonides
Women's Auxiliary, a so-
cial and social-action group
of physicians' wives, which
has operated for about 70
years.)
Dr. Mark Diem of First
Care Medical Centers is
glad the Maimonides Soci-
ety is back. He sees a need
for it in Detroit.
"Jewish doctors were, in
the early part of the cen-
tury, separated. They were
not allowed to practice in
some of the hospitals," he
said.
But as Jews became
more integrated into soci-
ety at large, that changed.
"Now, we're scattered,"
he said. "We're not ghet-
toized into one hospital
that is a Jewish hospital."
Federation leaders aim to counter this professional diaspora with
off-hour events: dinners, medical relief efforts for people in war-torn
countries like Bosnia and discussions about medical ethics.
Toward that end, the Oct. 16 meeting at the Townsend Hotel fea-
tured dessert and a presentation by Dr. Baruch Brody who spoke
on "Honesty and Deception in the Everyday Practice of Medicine."
"The issue of honesty deserves a lot more attention," Dr. Brody
said.
A professor of medical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine in New
York, Dr. Brody acknowledged the importance of headline-mak-
ing issues like medicide and abortion.
"But I don't want to talk about any of those 'fancy' issues," he said,
"like pulling the plug or the human genome. The stuff I want to talk
about is really just day-by-day stuff ... How we relate, honestly
and dishonestly, with our patients and co-workers."
The fast-speaking New Yorker, who recently received four gov-

PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST

Federation has

or a 12th-century physi-
cian, Moses Maimonides
did some pretty modem-
day kvetching. Born in
Spain, Maimonides' ca-
reer took him to Egypt
where the ruling class
welcomed him as their fa-
vorite doc. Prestige be-
came a headache,
however, as evinced by
Maimonides' letter to a
fellow M.D. who contem-
plated joining him in
Cairo:
"Do not anticipate be-
ing able to spend even one
hour alone with me,
whether by day or night,"
Maimonides warned.
"Every day I have to go to
Cairo (to the Sultan's
palace) early in the morn-
ing, and even if nothing
special happens, I return
at noon and I am fam-
ished. All the galleries of
my house are full of peo-
ple ... a mixed mob that
knows I'll go out to treat
them and prescribe med-
ications until nightfall,
and often for two hours
later, so that I am com-
pletely exhausted and un-
able to talk."
Colleagues in 20th-
century medicine can relate.
"Really," said Dr. Darryl Goldberg of Bingham Farms. "In 800
years, has anything changed?"
An ophthalmologist, Dr. Goldberg was present two weeks ago
when Maimonides came back to life at Federation's meeting of the
all-new Maimonides Society. More than 200 metro Detroit doctors
attended to assure a successful rebirth of the group for Jewish M.D.s,
D.O.s, medical interns and residents.
The Maimonides Society is an organization within Federation
that provides a forum for Jewish physicians to meet, discuss med-
ical issues, socialize and partake in social-action activities.
More than 70 Maimonides societies operate in Jewish communi-
ties around the country. The groups also serve to connect physicians
with federations. Historically, doctors have not been as involved
with Jewish federations — and corresponding Allied Jewish Cam-
paign fund-raisers — as professionals in other fields.

