A statewide association of doctors and medical students is backing a proposed ban on the sale of tobacco products by health care institutions.
BOSTON (AP) — A statewide association of doctors and medical students is backing a proposed ban on the sale of tobacco products by health care institutions.
The Massachusetts Medical Society offered testimony Tuesday at a Beacon Hill hearing by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health.
The bill would not only prohibit hospitals and clinics from selling cigarettes and other tobacco products, it would also block doctors from working in a professional capacity in locations where tobacco products are sold.
The group said doctors, nurses and other health care professionals "should not be permitted by their very presence to legitimize the sale of tobacco products."
The group said the bill would send an important health message to patients and be another step in savings lives and in reducing illness and the cost of health care in Massachusetts.