Center for Medical Consumers Archive
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Abstract
The Center for Medical Consumers was founded in 1976 to educate consumers to ask questions regarding major medical treatments including long-term drug therapy and elective surgery. A free medical library was opened that provided consumers access to the same types of publications available to medical professionals. The Center also published a monthly newsletter, "Health Facts," from 1976-2012. This collection documents advocacy work of the Center for Medical Consumers from 1976-2011, the bulk of the materials dating between 1990 and 2011. Materials include clippings, correspondence, print publications, reports, newsletters, notes and scrap books.
Historical Note
The Center for Medical Consumers was founded in 1976 to educate consumers to ask questions regarding major medical treatments including long-term drug therapy and elective surgery. A free medical library was opened to provide consumers access to the same medical journals, reference books, and text books that are available to medical professionals. The Center decided to closed the library in 2001 with the onset of the widespread use of the internet. The Center also published its monthly newsletter, "Health Facts," in print from 1976-2009 and digitally from 2009-2012. For most of its existence, Judson Memorial Church provided an office space for the Center at no cost. Funding for the Center comes from small grants, royalties generated by published articles, and private donors.
Source: https://medconsumers.wordpress.com/about/
Arrangement
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of materials collected by Maryann Napoli and other staff from the Center for Medical Consumers that document the Center's advocacy work regarding patient advocacy between 1976 and 2011. Materials include four books related to breast cancer and information on medical procedures and treatments; articles and letters to editors written by Maryann Napoli; and mammography reports from the 1970s. There is one folder of letters written by the public in support of the Center and its advocacy, and three folders of correspondence related to patient advocacy, unnecessary mastectomies that resulted from a national screening project in the 1970s, and the National Cancer Institute's information for consumers. The collection also consists of copies of the Center for Medical Consumers' newsletter, Health Facts, spanning from 1977 to 2009, and two scrapbooks that contain clippings related to patient advocacy, self-care, and prescription drugs in America between 1977 and 2003.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions with the exception of folder 22. Acess to folder 22 is permanently restricted. The materials include personal health information regarding patients who participated in a national breast cancer screening project in the 1970s and fall under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Maryann Napoli or the Center for Medical Consumers, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Center for Medical Consumers Archive; MSS 314; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Maryann Napoli on behalf of the Center for Medical Consumers in 2011. The accession number related to this gift is 2011.314.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials were placed in new acid-free folders. Original order and folder titles were maintained. Clippings were removed from two scrapbooks and placed in new-acid free folders; original order was maintained. Restricted correspondence was removed from folder 8 and placed in folder 22.
