May 9, 2000

Michael Parks, Editor
LA Times
Times Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA 90053

Dear Mr. Parks:

Have you no limits, no bounds, no responsibility to fairly report the truth? The article "Troubling Record For Anti-Aging Doctors" by Benedict Carey published May 8th is so rife with misinformed spin as to fail the modest criteria of the National Enquirer for factual reporting. A4M's membership of over 8600 physicians and scientists from 55 countries has no more disciplinary actions against them than does the membership of the American Heart Association or American Medical Association. The article implied that there are 50 members of the A4M in California. In fact, there are 748 members, 603 of them actively practicing. To arbitrarily select a non-representative group of doctors from one geographical area and then compare them against the country at large and suggest that this somehow is a representative sample of the A4M, an all volunteer non-profit 501(c) 3 public society of medical professionals -- of whom, to my knowledge, Edmund Chein alone is in any conflict with the medical boards -- is bogus statistics designed to mislead and defame. Worse still, these issues were pointed out to your writer who chose to delete them. Beyond this simple deception with numbers your reporter failed to address the fact that 75% of all disciplinary actions by boards have nothing to do with malpractice or incompetence, but are rather administrative issues dealing with record keeping or even issues as trivial as not paying license fees on time. The overwhelming majority of A4M members practicing the clinical science of anti-aging medicine are already board certified by a traditional medical board such as internal medicine, endocrinology, family practice, emergency medicine, OB-GYN, and are members in good standing of their boards, the AMA, and their state licensing boards.

Your reporter's deliberate effort to deface and defame a noble young profession who is offering new hope and new technologies to overcome mankind's oldest and most debilitating disease -- old age -- is morally contemptuous, brutish and not in the service of humanity. A4M in its short tenure of but 7 years has done more to advance the cause of advanced diagnosis and prevention of disease as well as the important new concept that aging is a treatable condition, than has the NIA and AARP combined over the past 30 years. Far from being a questionable science, anti-aging medicine is 100% rooted in the best-published work from mainstream medical science. I know of not one person who has died from these therapies, yet I do know of thousands who have been helped and whose lives are healthier, more productive and complete thanks to the conservative and proven techniques of anti-aging medicine. I urge you to correct this unconscionable report and to set the record straight with the truth about this legitimate and worthy medical specialty; your integrity and the quality of lives of your readers hang in the balance.

Sincerely,

Ronald Klatz, M.D., D.O.
President, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine