This Question Could Save Your Life, But Doctors Don't Ask It

[billh58]

"You’d be surprised how many people have guns in their houses," said Dr. Jill Creighton.

As a pediatrician at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital on Long Island, Creighton routinely asks her patients' parents during their children's regular checkups whether or not they own guns -- a question that roughly a quarter of them answer affirmatively.

-Snip-

"Physicians not only have a responsibility to their patients to diagnose and treat illness, they also have a broader societal obligation to improve population health," Dr. Steven Weinberger of the American College of Physicians wrote in editorial accompanying the paper. In a nation where 33,559 people died of gunshot wounds in 2014, teaching patients about firearm safety needs to be part of that responsibility.

-Snip-

The publicity surrounding {Florida's} "Docs vs. Glocks," which is being appealed by a group of plaintiffs including medical groups and doctors, seems to have had an effect far beyond Florida's borders. Wintemute said that over the past few years, as he's given talks about physicians' roll in reducing firearm violence, medical professionals in the audience have repeatedly questioned whether they are prohibited from speaking with patients about firearms under the Affordable Care Act or state law.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/this-question-could-save-your-life-but-doctors-dont-ask-it/ar-BBtfsBH?li=BBnbfcL

It's obvious that the right-wing ALEC/NRA Second Amendment absolutists will go to any lengths to prevent an honest assessment of the gun violence epidemic in this country, even to the point of preventing doctors from determining risks to their patients. Fortunately, there are doctors like Dr. Garen Wintemute who are willing to take the lead in bringing this travesty to the public consciousness.

[madaboutharry]

1. I had a pediatrician ask me if we had a gun in the house.

I was shocked and said "Do I look like the kind of person who would have a gun in the house?"
And she answered "People who look just like you answer yes to that question every day."

[Press Virginia]

3. Why do they redefine violence to include suicides?

Or accidental shootings?

[billh58]

4. I saw your first (deleted)

message Bubba. You are in the wrong Group. Second Amendment absolutists are not welcome here.

[Press Virginia]

7. i didn't realize it was absolutism to point out suicides and accidents aren't violence

[billh58]

10. You parrot the ALEC/NRA

sales pitch very well Bubba. Now run along and go play militia games with your gunner buddies.

[Press Virginia]

12. I do? I thought I was just pointing out

that suicides and accidents aren't violence.

Violence (noun)

behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.
synonyms: brutality, brute force, ferocity, savagery, cruelty, sadism, barbarity, brutishness

[billh58]

13. Still here?

Thanks for kicking the thread Bubba.

[Press Virginia]

14. As long as you learn the meaning of the word "violence" I'm happy to kick it

It brings me joy to educate my fellow human beings

[flamin lib]

15. Most suicides are discovered by loved ones.

Do a google image search for gun + suicide and imagine finding someone you love looking like that and then defend the asinine comment you just made.

[Press Virginia]

16. will any of those pictures change the meaning of the word? Blaming the method

used for their choice to end their life is just silly

[billh58]

17. Press Virginia had to leave suddenly,

but they asked me to tell you goodbye...

[Aristus]

5. One of my colleagues is a pediatrician. With her in clinic, I rarely do well-child checks anymore.

But when I do, I never ask about guns in the home. I'm always worried that some gun-crazed Rambo wanna-be who loves his firearms and tolerates his children will go off on me (maybe even literally...)

I have no such compunctions about anti-vaxxers, interestingly enough. Get your kids vaccinated or get the fuck out. I guess because, while anti-vaxxers are walking piles of human shit, they aren't all well-armed and spoiling for a gunfight.

[scscholar]

8. Good point

If I was a doctor, I would be afraid to ask. Plus, aren't there mandatory reporting laws for that if you think there is even the possibility of a problem?

[billh58]

9. You are not alone, because

the right-wing gun lobby has created a culture of "gun crazed Rambo wanna-bes who love firearms."

[Hoyt]

6. The gun fanciers are very sensitive about questions that save lives but put them in bad light.

[billh58]

11. They all sound like they

just came from a Trump rally, or a Cruz fiesta...