Free Republic

Let’s set aside for the moment the question of whether it’s appropriate to talk about gun control in the wake of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado (though I can’t think of a more appropriate time to talk about it). And let’s not consider whether it makes sense that it’s legal to buy thousands of rounds of ammunition on-line in the U.S, without any background check (though could it, really?) And let’s not revisit that old argument about people, and not guns, killing people (though millions of “people,’ including evil and deranged people, do seem to live in countries with negligible...

In 2011, the State of Florida passed a law popularly referred to as “Docs vs Glocks” which prevents doctors meddling in the gun ownership prerogatives of their patients. Why would such a statute be necessary? The following is a portion of a policy statement included on the website of the American Academy of Pediatrics: “Until handguns are banned, we recommend that handguns and handgun ammunition be regulated, that restrictions be placed on handgun ownership, and that the number of privately owned handguns be reduced. Firearms should be removed from the environments where children live and play …” Uppermost in the...

Following the Las Vegas Massacre, Dr. Faren Wintemute, the Director of UC Davis' Violence Prevention Center, has called on physicians across the nation to play a role in curbing gun violence. According to Wintemute, his colleagues should make a pledge to ask patients about firearms in the home and gun safety, as he detailed in the Annals of Internal Medicine Medical Journal. One thing Wintemute doesn't take into account? How truthful people are.

In pro-gun-regulation Illinois — where politicians would rather play gun control politics than fight the murderous street gangs — a young man was admitted to the hospital. Sam Insley, 16, of Oak Lawn, wasn't admitted with a gun problem. Sam had a tonsil problem. "It was an infected tonsil," Mary Rita Insley told me of her son Sam, a strapping, 6-foot-2-inch, 195-pound lacrosse player at St. Rita High School on the Southwest Side. "Yes, he's a big kid, but regardless of his age and stature, my husband and I were with him the entire time he was there." Sam was...

MIAMI (AP) — Doctors in Florida are fighting a first-of-its-kind law requiring them to have a legitimate safety concern before they start asking a patient about guns. The physicians contend the new law is too broad and they should be free to ask patients and parents about firearms in the house to make sure people know how to keep them safely locked away. Doctors routinely offer similar advice about other household risks, from the dangers of tobacco use to swimming pools. Gun rights supporters who pushed for the new law believe questions about gun ownership are an invasion of privacy,...

With a stroke of the governor's pen, Florida is positioned to become the first state in the nation to prohibit physicians from asking patients if they have guns in their homes, a move some doctors say will interfere with health care. The Florida Senate passed House Bill 155 last month by a 27-10 vote and the measure now awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Rick Scott. If signed, it would ban doctors from asking about the presence of guns or ammunition in the home. Republican State Rep. Jason Brodeur, a sponsor of the bill, proposed the legislation following an incident...

The House of Delegates voted 88-11 yesterday to limit what pediatricians can ask patients about firearms in their homes. The bill would apply to doctors conducting routine screenings of patients for risks. The physicians would be prevented from asking about firearms if the information is not related to a complaint made by the patient or related to any other patient inquiry. Doctors who violate the provision could be accused of unprofessional conduct and be declared in violation of state medical licensing regulations. House committee testimony indicated that the bill was brought after complaints from firearms-rights advocates, one of whose child...

Lawmaker: Doctors shouldn't be asking patients about guns By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/16/13 03:33 PM ET Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), who was a family physician before coming to Congress in 2009, argued on Wednesday that doctors have no right to ask patients about their status as gun owners, as an executive order from President Obama would encourage them to do. "I came to Congress as a family physician with great concerns about the federal government intruding on the doctor-patient relationship," Fleming said. "By his executive actions today, President Obama is pushing the government further into the exam room. "He's trying...

In the last few years the number of fatal firearm accidents has been at record lows.   In 2010 it was 606, in 2011 it was 600 (preliminary).      These numbers had been falling for a long time, then leveled off at about the 600 figure in 2005.   Of those about 10% are children ages 14 and under.  That number in 2010 was 62. To put these numbers in perspective, the number of children who drown in swimming pools and hot tubs per year is about 383 from (2006 to 2008).    From a safety perspective, swimming pools and hot tubs are...

Leading causes of death in the United States - kids The top two causes, Unintentional injury (accidents), Malignant Neoplasms (cancer), and Congenital Anomalies (abnormality at birth) accounted for more than half (63.35 percent) of all deaths among kids (ages 5 through 9) in 2002. Note that automobile accident is the number one cause of death in this age group, accounting for about 21%. Top 20 Causes of Death - Kids (5 - 9) Rank Cause of Death Total Deaths No of Deaths Percent All Deaths 3018 3018 100.00% 1 Unintentional Injury 1176 38.97% * Motor Vehicle Traffic 621 20.58% *...

Two-thirds of Americans are okay with doctors discussing guns, according to a new survey published by The Annals of Internal Medicine. The online survey asked Americans whether it’s appropriate for healthcare professionals to talk to their patients about guns. Sixty-six percent of the over 3,900 respondents indicated that it’s at least sometimes appropriate for docs to talk guns. In contrast, 34 percent indicated the topic of guns should never be broached with patients. As part of the survey, participants were asked to indicate whether they were gun owners. Of those that admitted to having guns in the home, half stated...

There have been laws passed on this subject in Florida, always to the great consternation of liberals and gun control advocates, but it remains an open question in much of the country. Should your doctor be asking you during the course of a routine check-up whether or not you or any family members have a gun in your house? And what if they do just come out and ask? Ben Guarino at the Washington Post brings us some information about a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine which suggests that nothing should hold doctors back from inquiring. You...

Should doctors ask patients if they own guns? Currently, ObamaCare bans the federal government from using patient medical records to compile a list of gun owners. But following the Newtown, CT shootings, President Obama issued an executive order clarifying that “the Affordable Care Act [ObamaCare] does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.” The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) similarly encourages physicians to ask patients if they own firearms — in the name of protecting child safety. As a physician, I consider this advice misguided.

Amazon has just took a surprising turn into the healthcare industry, teaming up with investing hero Warren Buffet and New York-based bank JPMorgan Chase, the Washington Post reports.

The idea that spending more on preventive care will reduce overall health care spending is widely believed and often promoted as a reason to support reform. It’s thought that too many people with chronic illnesses wait until they are truly ill before seeking care, often in emergency rooms, where it costs more. It should follow then that treating diseases earlier, or screening for them before they become more serious, would wind up saving money in the long run. Unfortunately, almost none of this is true. Let’s begin with emergency rooms, which many people believed would get less use after passage...

The GOP disarms three more financial time bombs about to blow up your personal budget. . . snip Part of the price paid by the Democrats to get out of the hole they dug for themselves when they forced the shutdown was the suspension of three onerous Obamacare taxes — the medical device tax, the tax on premium (Cadillac) health plans, and the health insurance (HIT) tax. All three were wildly unpopular with the voters, due to go into effect imminently, and would have made medical care even more expensive.

Don’t look now, but the President and Congressional Republicans are making progress on their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare with a more affordable, flexible, and dynamic health system. This news will likely come as a surprise. As far as the news media is concerned, the failure to pass the American Health Care Act in the Senate means that health care has been a zone of failure for the President. What they have missed is an administration-wide health reform effort, enhanced by congressional action, that will lower costs, increase access, and improve health outcomes. Because this new strategy doesn’t fit...

One of the biggest drivers of America’s opioid epidemic is Medicaid, and ObamaCare’s expansion of the program has only made matters worse, claims a new report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdoses were the leading cause of accidental death in the United States in 2016, accounting for almost 64,000 deaths. Adjusting for age, the rate of drug-overdose deaths more than tripled between 1999 and 2016. Abuse of opioids such as oxycodone is one of the primary reasons for this increase.How does Medicaid play into this? For its...

Congress’ chief scorekeeper said Wednesday it botched some of its original Obamacare estimates, and its employees have to make “trade-offs” as they confront the heavy workload from lawmakers. Keith Hall, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said they were off in their guess for enrollment in Obamacare’s exchanges, though he said so were other analysts. “Sometimes it’s really hard to estimate these things,” Mr. Hall said Wednesday. “Certainly with the exchanges, we were off — we weren’t as far off on things like the actual spending, some other things — but everybody else was as well. We can be off...

<p>Idaho officials said they will begin allowing insurers to sell new plans that don't meet requirements set by the Affordable Care Act, a move that will test the limits of states' ability to carve out their own health-insurance rules.</p> <p>Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Insurance said it would allow insurers in the state to begin offering "state-based plans" to consumers. These products could leave out some of the benefits mandated by the ACA for individual coverage. Insurers would be able to consider enrollees' medical history in setting their premiums, a practice known as underwriting, which isn't authorized under the ACA. The new state-based plans could also include dollar limits on total benefit payouts, which the ACA banned.</p>