AMA to Apologize for Racist Past

The American Medical Association is to offer a full apology today for more than a century of racism against African Americans, reports the Washington Post. The country's largest medical association effectively barred black doctors for many years and stayed silent while the country was divided on efforts to end racial discrimination.

"The medical profession, which is based on a boundless respect for human life, had an obligation to lead society away from disrespect of so many lives," wrote a past president in the group's journal. "The AMA failed to do so." The chief of the Minority Health Institute welcomed the apology as a timely "gesture of goodwill." (More American Medical Association stories.)