Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine. (FIRM)

http://www.westandfirm.org/index.html

Statement of Principles and Goals

We stand for Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine.

America was founded on the principles of freedom and individual
rights. Applied to medicine, the law must respect the individual
rights of doctors and other providers, allowing them the freedom to
practice medicine. This includes the right to choose their patients,
to determine the best treatment for their patients, and to bill their
patients accordingly. In the same manner, the law must respect the
individual rights of patients, allowing them the freedom to seek out
the best doctors and treatment they can afford.

Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM) promotes the
philosophy of individual rights, personal responsibility, and free
market economics in health care. FIRM holds that the only moral and
practical way to obtain medical care is that of individuals choosing
and paying for their own medical care in a capitalist free market.
Federal and state regulations and entitlements, we maintain, are the
two most important factors in driving up medical costs. They have
created the crisis we face today.

What does FIRM do?

researches and studies the work of scholars and policy experts in the
areas of health care, law, philosophy, and economics to inform and to
foster public debate on the causes and potential solutions of rising
costs of health care and health insurance.

sponsors and holds public educational programs, lectures and town
hall meetings on issues regarding the causes of the crises in health
care and health insurance, and on the morality and economic costs of
various health care programs and proposals.

provides speakers for local, private or public meetings and talks,
for radio and television interviews, and for professional conferences
or symposiums on these various issues.
FIRM provides you with information about how to protect freedom and
individual rights in medicine, and you decide how to use it.

FIRM is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization; it does
not endorse any health care treatment, product, provider, or
organization. Contributions are deductible, as provided by law.

About the Founder of FIRM

Lin Zinser practiced law in Denver for 19 years in litigation, much
of it in defending businesses. She routinely litigated cases with
medical issues, as well as cases involving insurance issues,
particularly auto, business, disability, and health coverages. She
received her JD from University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.A. in
Philosophy from Wichita State University.

In 2004, Lin Zinser began bringing speakers to the Denver metro area
to speak on a variety of ethical and political issues. She recently
founded Ideas, Matter, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation, to
further that effort. Ms. Zinser became concerned with the increasing
threat of socialized medicine in Colorado and nationwide. Freedom and
Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM) was then created as a program of
Ideas Matter, Inc., in order to serve as a resource for information
on the growing crises and potential solutions in both health care and
health insurance.

Lin Zinser can be reached at Lin@....