Presidential address: The American head and neck society legacy - Clinical care, teaching, and research: Staying the course during stormy times

It is somewhat of an understatement to say that this past year has been a challenging one on multiple levels, challenging being the euphemism in vogue for difficult. As the medical environment has degenerated, I began to develop a steadily escalating commitment to deliver to you a stimulating, positive, uplifting presidential address, but as I began to dissect out the components of our present medical environment, I became mortified with fear that I could not fulfill this task, somewhat paralyzed as I physically sat down to construct this presentation. It is no secret that organized medicine has been a prime target of a witch hunt by a society that, despite the addition of initially perceived "revolutionary" approaches to the administration of health care, has provided no sustaining solutions to any of the issues germane to the escalating cost of medical care or the fiscal and resource burden of treating the uninsured. And no one has been more consistently confronted with this dilemma in a more dramatic way than the head and neck surgeon.