June 27, 2019
Once again, the Minnesota Medical Association is urging Minnesotans to leave the lighting of fireworks to the professionals this Fourth of July.
“Every year more and more Minnesotans are ending up in the emergency department when they get hurt setting off fireworks,” said MMA President Doug Wood, MD. “We’d prefer that they leave these often-unpredictable devices to the professionals.”
According to 2017 data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, on average, 280 people go to the emergency department every day with fireworks-related injuries in the month around the July 4th holiday. Thirty-six percent of the injuries involved children under the age of 14. The most commonly injured body parts included: hands and fingers (31 percent); head, face and ears (22 percent); legs (17 percent) and eyes (14 percent).
“We’d prefer that fireworks weren’t available commercially,” Wood said. “As long as they are, we strongly recommend that Minnesotans leave them to the experts who are trained in handling them.”
October 8, 2025
Two physicians, four physicians-in-training, the late Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy were all honored with MMA awards as part of this year’s Empowering Physicians event on September 26. Each year, the MMA honors those in medicine for going above and beyond.
September 30, 2025
Lisa Mattson, MD, of Plymouth, was installed as the Minnesota Medical Association’s (MMA) 159th president on September 26, during the association’s Empowering Physicians event in Minneapolis.
September 8, 2025
The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) and four other physician advocacy organizations sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz on September 5 urging him to call a special legislative session to “pass legislation to address the devastating death and injuries from firearms and gun violence.