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Pediatricians Have the Right to Ask About Guns
The Daily Beast ^ | 7/30/14 | Russell Saunders

Posted on 07/30/2014 12:46:11 PM PDT by Q-ManRN

As a pediatrician, I have one, straightforward professional obligation: to safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of my patients. In my case, those patients are children, but you could change the age range of the people coming into the office and apply that statement to any medical provider.

Asking about guns in the house is no exception. When I ask parents if there are firearms in the home, and if so how they are secured, it is for the sole purpose of keeping their children safe.

Physicians in Florida are being threatened with a law that, if enacted, will seriously hamper their ability to do their jobs. The Firearms Owners' Privacy Act, passed in 2011, would subject medical providers to fines and a potential loss of licensure for asking patients about gun ownership or recording that information in the medical record if it is not “relevant to the patient's medical care or safety.”

Gun advocacy groups such as the National Rifle Association have long opposed the AAP’s efforts to strengthen gun laws. But the Florida law has no effect on gun ownership or access. Its insidious reach enters into medical offices and chokes off the free-speech rights of the people trying to work there.

As much as the NRA and its ilk want to deny it, having a gun in the home is a risk factor for serious injury or death. Acknowledging that fact is not the same thing as taking the gun away. The Florida law seeks to “protect” gun owners from even having to be informed about truths they’d prefer to ignore, and seeks to cast medical providers in an unflattering light for having the temerity to question them.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; florida; guncontrol; pediatrician; secondamendment
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To: Q-ManRN

Lots of health problem with boys who are gay.

I assume the people who back asking about guys would also back doctors asking if there were any gay children in the family.


121 posted on 07/30/2014 2:21:06 PM PDT by GOPJ (Liberal elites want immigrants as servants providing cheap labor, drugs, and competition for jobs.)
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To: altsehastiin; Buckeye McFrog

The doctor does have a First Amendment right to ask about guns; however, this issue has more to do with professional standards that govern his speech. As a healthcare professional bound by those standards, he cannot ask you about non-medical issues using his professional status in order to justify his own political beliefs.

There is no medical reason to discuss how parents choose to defend their families just because there is a small chance a child could be accidentally shot. Responsible parents would be aware of that obvious danger and take steps to avoid that situation, just like they would for many other apparent hazards in their home.


122 posted on 07/30/2014 2:21:35 PM PDT by Q-ManRN (Progressivism is regressive!)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

Tell them to “Bugger OFF!!” then.


123 posted on 07/30/2014 2:28:39 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

Does the Dr. disclose their political donations?

Does the Dr. disclose their disciplinary record? times they have been sued?


124 posted on 07/30/2014 2:28:50 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Q-ManRN

Would the doctor make an entry in the child’s medical records about this? Are those records being updated into some national system? That kind of stuff makes me reluctant to tell a physician anything that I don’t want the rest of the world to know.


125 posted on 07/30/2014 2:30:38 PM PDT by Rhinoman (SMSgt, USAF (Ret))
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To: Q-ManRN

i told my doctor, when he asked if there were any guns in the house, i said, “no, i had to bring it with me so my 3 and 5 year olds wouldn’t play with it while i was gone. they love to plink cans.”


126 posted on 07/30/2014 2:33:28 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: Mrs. B.S. Roberts
Do they ask if there is a bath tub in the house? Did you know that a child left unattended in a tub can drown? /sarc

Indeed cars and water are far more dangerous.

Explanation on adjusted/undadjusted.

127 posted on 07/30/2014 2:44:56 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: maddog55

yep, but wouldn’t waste my time cussing him out, I’d just leave with my kid. Let him try to figure out why...


128 posted on 07/30/2014 2:45:00 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: Menehune56
Patients have the right to tell you it’s none of your business. And to change doctors.

That may be true, but have you ever seen your new, "improved" electronic medical records?

Anything you say (or refuse to say) may be entered in there as well as your mental state and attitude toward the doctor and you probably won't know about it. It then goes with you "forever" even if you change doctors.

The potential for abuse by those examining your records for "suitability" to own a firearm or get a CCW is there as you may now have a "mental health" or "anger" issue which is now documented.

129 posted on 07/30/2014 2:50:25 PM PDT by Gritty (Obama's governing as president of a Latin American republic, where only the president matters-MSteyn)
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To: Q-ManRN; flaglady47; M Kehoe; Matchett-PI; mcmuffin; Seeking the truth; Bushbacker1; surfer; ...
Thanks for asking, Doc.....now take three aspirins and go to hell.

Leni

130 posted on 07/30/2014 2:51:50 PM PDT by MinuteGal (Combined US Senate & House has completely lost its voice, its compass, its patriotism & its soul!)
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To: pterional

Think BIG DATA and all the reports and indicators on your profile that can influence.

This influences telemarketers and junk mail solicitations, too, along with those ‘we can help’ types of information.

Government data is the devil in disguise.


131 posted on 07/30/2014 2:52:03 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: tanknetter
I’ve never had a pediatrician ask me about guns.

But in fairness I have had them ask me about car safety. Specifically child car seats, location in the vehicle, whether they were installed by me or the police/fire dept.

I was given a form at the doctors office to fill out recently. It did ask if guns were kept in the house, if there was a swimming pool at home, car seats in the car and an entire page of questions like that. I just drew a big X across it and off to the side I wrote "not medical questions".

I have never been asked verbally by a doctor. I will not lie if I am ever asked, but I will not give them an answer either.

132 posted on 07/30/2014 2:52:07 PM PDT by GregoTX (Remember the Alamo)
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To: CrazyIvan

Your doc and mine are cut from the same cloth. He’s a total gun nut and owns untold thousands of rounds of ammo along with enough guns to fill several safes. Every time I see him I’m humiliated by how small an arsenal I had before the TBA.


133 posted on 07/30/2014 2:56:18 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: Jeff Chandler
and if they say it’s none of your business, they are being disrespectful towards adults.

Except, it really is none of the doc's business. However, it is the child's business. If there are guns in the home, the child should be taught to respect them.

A child should not be taught to respect all adults in every situation. This is exactly a situation where an example should be set that sometimes an adult will ask a child a question that is over the line and the child is under no obligation to answer. My kids are long grown, but I know a couple of my grandchildren have been taught to answer, "whether or not my parents are exercising their second amendment right is not your business."

134 posted on 07/30/2014 2:59:07 PM PDT by old and tired
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To: CrazyIvan; All

Some doctors talk lingo in order to get hesitant patients
to loosen up and talk about otherwise sensitive info. They then put your info into the med data base. The doctor may never have owned guns. Be careful...even if your doctor does seem like the gun enthusiast. If he decides a particular patient is a dangerous rube or red neck, a record of that patient’s guns are going to be created.


135 posted on 07/30/2014 3:03:55 PM PDT by mdmathis6
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To: rfreedom4u

“NEVER let the government have control of your children! EVER!”

Same goes for govt schools!!


136 posted on 07/30/2014 3:05:40 PM PDT by ForYourChildren (Christian Education [ RomanRoadsMedia.com - a classical Christian approach to homeschool])
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To: Q-ManRN

If he’s worried about his patients he can just inform each parent about gun safety, he doesn’t have to know if they own one.


137 posted on 07/30/2014 3:07:10 PM PDT by tiki
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To: Responsibility2nd

138 posted on 07/30/2014 3:14:08 PM PDT by mylife
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To: GregoTX
I have never been asked verbally by a doctor. I will not lie if I am ever asked, but I will not give them an answer either.

Maybe I'm a touch cynical on this, but I'd presume that records of all answers whether Y, N or NOYFB will be documented and databased.

And, if the day ever comes, the NOYFB folks will be the first ones they go after because there'll be a presumption that not only are they armed but they are also the ones mostly likely to "cause trouble" with their weapons.
139 posted on 07/30/2014 3:14:16 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Q-ManRN
What about knives?!?!?!?!?

What about cars!!!???

What about GOVERNMENTS???!!!

140 posted on 07/30/2014 3:17:20 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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