Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 01/16/2011 4:44:22 AM PST by SampleMan
In the interests of clarity (here's the text of the bill, HB 155
The level of penalty is indeed overkill, but there is a program underway, pushed by the American Academy of Pediatricians, to have doctors ask children about guns in the home (often in private without the parent present to object to the question), and also to counsel parents about safe handgun storage (i.e. scare mom into talking dad out of keeping a gun). Also, the doctor should not be taking that private info, and placing it into a database accessible by others (like insurance companies or government agencies), nor should they make divulging the info a condition for being their patient.HB 155 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the privacy of firearms owners; 3 creating s. 790.338, F.S.; providing that inquiries by 4 physicians or other medical personnel concerning the 5 ownership of a firearm by a patient or the family of a 6 patient or the presence of a firearm in a private home or 7 other domicile of a patient or the family of a patient 8 violates the privacy of the patient or the patient's 9 family members, respectively; prohibits conditioning the 10 receipt of medical treatment or care on a person's 11 willingness or refusal to disclose personal and private 12 information unrelated to medical treatment in violation of 13 an individual's privacy contrary to specified provisions; 14 prohibiting entry of certain information concerning 15 firearms into medical records or disclosure of such 16 information by specified individuals; providing criminal 17 penalties; providing increased maximum fines for certain 18 violations; requiring informing the Attorney General of 19 prosecution of violations; providing for collection of 20 fines by the Attorney General in certain circumstances; 21 providing an effective date. 22 23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 24 25 Section 1. Section 790.338, Florida Statutes, is created 26 to read: 27 790.338 Medical privacy concerning firearms.- 28 (1)(a) A verbal or written inquiry by a public or private 29 physician, nurse, or other medical staff person regarding the 30 ownership of a firearm by a patient or the family of a patient 31 or the presence of a firearm in a private home or other domicile 32 of a patient or the family of a patient violates the privacy of 33 the patient or the patient's family members, respectively. 34 (b) A public or private physician, nurse, or other medical 35 staff person may not condition receipt of medical treatment or 36 medical care on a person's willingness or refusal to disclose 37 personal and private information unrelated to medical treatment 38 in violation of an individual's privacy as specified in this 39 section. 40 (c) A public or private physician, nurse, or other medical 41 staff person may not enter any intentionally, accidentally, or 42 inadvertently disclosed information concerning firearms into any 43 record, whether written or electronic, or disclose such 44 information to any other source. 45 (2)(a) A person who violates this section commits a felony 46 of the third degree, punishable, except as provided in paragraph 47 (b), as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 48 (b) A person who violates this section may be assessed a 49 fine of not more than $5 million if the court determines that 50 the person knew or reasonably should have known that the conduct 51 was unlawful. 52 (c) The state attorney with jurisdiction shall investigate 53 complaints of criminal violations of this section and, if there 54 is probable cause to indicate that a person may have committed a 55 violation, shall prosecute the violator and notify the Attorney 56 General. 57 (d) Notwithstanding s. 28.246(6), if a fine for a 58 violation of this section remains unpaid after 90 days, the 59 Attorney General shall bring a civil action to enforce the fine. 60 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
You are hopelessly paranoid.
It is not just stupid, it is a violation of professional ethics called a “boundary violation”.
I have already said I agree the felony is excessive, yet you keep raising that point in your responses to me.
And you post in abject denial of the long and sordid history of the gun control movement in this country. If the information is out there, they will try to get the government's hands on it. That is why physicians should not be asking this.
Then don’t go to a physician that asks. Its none of the government’s damned business.
The central missing information in the article on this isses is that Obama has created a centralized medical records data base. The doctors will be ordered by the government to provide information on gun ownership and other incriminating information on every American. They will serve as informants and spies. Doctors will be government agents reporting on every aspect of your life to the government through the centralized medical records system.
For those sassing “get another doctor”, wait until 40% of the doctors throw in the towel due to Obamacare’s insanity and we have shortages of service. You will be fortunate to find even one government controlled doctor. The quality will be about as good as the public school teachers’ union.
If they entrap the American people into a system of oppression like this, lying is not a sin. We are not accustomed to communism but those societies do whatever they have to do to get by the government and survive.
You are going to see battles like this constantly as liberals use health care for poltics and social engineering. For example, the shooting in Arizona will result in liberals demanding a mental health evaluations for every American under the age of 25 to make sure Palin has not made them want to murder a Democrat. In turn the test and results will be in your medical record which is centralized in HHS. That would be centrally a political correctness mental health test... Liberals will have no problem making it a crime to refuse to cooperate with their “health care” mandates and passing a law that if you are mentally unstable (politically incorrect) you can not own a gun.
People need to realize what is coming up here and begin now to protect yourself from a government informant system.
And you continue to deny the larger issue. I go to the doctor. That visit opens a medical record for me. The doctor asks the question. I refuse to answer. It is recorded that I did such. The government subsequently obtains that record and the fact that I refused to answer, and I get flagged in a government database somewhere for doing such.
Hyperbole? Hardly, given how hard the gun-rights movement has had to fight to prevent retention of Brady check records to create a de facto registry. A registry of any kind is a dream first step of the gun control movement towards eventual confiscation, and needs to be fought tooth and nail.
Oh, Doc, I don’t need guns. I have an ax, a machete, a drawer full of knives, a slingshot and a yard full of stones, and a baseball bat, and a sand wedge, and a hockey stick...
Here in Indiana while filling out new patient forms at the Dr’s office, one question asked if I owned Firearms I answered in Bold print none of your business,nothing was said.
What qualifies him? I suppose having a patient who is suffering from depression might be a start. How about having to clean up the mess or sign a death certificate for a child that got a hold of an unsecured firearm? Not all gun owners are responsible like people here. The doctor is perfectly qualified to remind parents and loved ones to keep these arms out of the hands of those who could harm themselves or others.
In one or two generations,(just as with compulsory, collectivist, atheistic, government education) the citizens will be incapable of imagining a world without national health care. We will hear the **same** arguments in the defense of government medicine as we do with government education:
—It's the voter's fault. They need to elect better representatives on collectivist medical committee ( school board). **MAKE** those doctors ( teachers and principals) do what is right for the patient ( student).
— There are some good doctors and hospitals ( government schools and teachers). Not all are bad.
— Government doctors and hospitals ( government teachers and schools) need more money.
— It's the parents fault for not supporting the government doctors and hospitals ( government teachers and schools).
— If you don't like your government hospital and doctors ( government school and teachers) move to a more expensive neighborhood with higher taxes.
Then there will be calls for reform:
— If only we could have a sprinkle of prayer and scripture in our atheistic government hospitals (schools) then they would be fixed.
— If we could only go back to government hospitals ( schools) and doctors ( teachers) of 20, 30, or 50 years ago, *then* the government hospitals and and doctors would be fixed.
— If only we could shut down the AMA ( NEA) then the government hospitals ( schools) would be fixed.
— If only we could return control of government medicine ( schools) to the states.
— We need to get back to medical ( government school) basics.
— We need to reform medical school ( colleges of education). Get rid of the Marxist professors.
— Doctors ( teachers) have the lowest SAT/ACT/GRE scores on campus. We need a government program to recruit better qualified students.
Fundamentally, collectivism, and compulsory funded ( socialist) programs STINK! They always have.
If generations of citizens attend socialist-funded, collectivist, atheistic government indoctrination camps ( schools), our citizens **WILL** learn that the government can use it police power take money from their neighbor to pay for a service their parents want for tuition-FREE! They learn that government has enormous police power to force citizens to USE a government service.
Well!...If government can force schools on the citizens not a thousand other FREE and COMPULSORY services? ( Like ***medicine***!)
Generations of children attending collectivist, socialist-funded, atheistic schools have learned to be completely comfortable with socialism, collectivism, and have learned to think atheistically!
I would have listed a nail gun, two staple guns, two caulking guns, and a grease gun.
>>I actually got a lecture full of ignorance, emotion and non-facts from an admitting nurse (and don’t tell me MD’s know more) when I told her that firearms had nothing to do with my visit and it wasn’t her business.
You should add in, when delivering that answer to any medical professional, that you consider the question a professional boundary violation. If they have half a clue as to the legal ramifications of same, that ought to give them serious pause.
>>You are hopelessly paranoid.
You are hopelessly unrealistic about how data like this has been misused in history.
“It can’t happen here” is an absurd argument. It can, unless we do not allow it to, and pushing back against this sort of gov’t record keeping is part of that. And make no mistake about it, this is now gov’t record keeping under Obamacare.
“Not only are there many good reasons for a doctor to ask about firearms...”
Well, I haven’t heard of gun powder allergies. There is the led to worry about. Can’t think of any other MEDICALLY NECESSARY reason why a doctor should ask that question when my otherwise=healthy junior is getting his physical. I wouldn’t want his school teachers asking that question either. It’s my business and if the doctor wants to talk about guns, he can talk to me, rather than ask junior (as happened in my case).
See the link in #63 that marktwain has provided for a good exposition on professional boundary violations regarding firearms in the context of the doctor-patient relationship.
“You really need to look at the underlying agenda of the physicians associations here. Many are proponents for gun control. This isn’t as innocent as you would think.”
That is a VERY GOOD point, as any info conferred will be turned over to the state, once they figure out a way to do so legally (if they haven’t already). And once we go single-payer, they will have defacto-registration, as no-doubt we’ll be reminded that falsifying medical information is a felony...right above the line asking for the numbers and types of firearms owned, along with the approximate number of ammo rounds.
The NRA is dead-on here, trying to forestall a VERY SLIPPERY slope.
Which is what the actual text of the law says, see post 61. It makes it illegal to make your answer, or willingnes to answer a condition of care, and illegal to record and transmit any answer, in the case of guns.
It does not “ make it illegal to ask a question.”. It merely keeps them from making a defacto registry.
From reading the headline and some of the comments here, I was against this law, until I read the text of the law posted in #61.
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