Heh. And as a free-thinking citizen, I will keep feeding you a line of BS a mile long. "Me? Own guns? Never!"
Posted on 08/13/2012 2:25:34 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
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 amounts of gun violence).
What I’m thinking about today is the role doctors and other health professionals do and should play in preventing the 30,000 deaths and many more injuries in which firearms are involved every year in the U.S.
Behind the closed doors of my exam room, I ask patients many very personal questions: about their sexual behavior, alcohol and drug use, domestic violence, and other sensitive issues.
But there are no questions I ask–and I ask them routinely, especially of new patients–that meet with more surprise than these: “Do you own any firearms? Do you keep them locked and inaccessible to children?”
I believe the questions come as a surprise because people don’t usually think of gun ownership as something about which a doctor would or should be concerned.
But according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, homicide, suicide, and accidents are among the top three causes of death for Americans ages 0-54, and these deaths often involve firearms-over 30,000 per year. That’s seven times as many as die of cervical cancer, and nearly as many as die from pancreatic cancer annually.
It’s seems to me difficult to argue that health professionals shouldn’t be as interested in the prevention of gun violence as in the prevention of other causes of death.
Yet, doctors’ role in counseling patients about the potential danger of firearms is controversial, as expressed in this exchange. Some see such counseling as no different than speaking with patients about safe sex, smoking, and exercise. Some see it as an inappropriate intrusion of the doctor’s political views into the patient’s medical visit and an invasion of the patient’s privacy.
This latter view was in the news last fall when a Florida law, subsequently overturned by a federal judge, banned doctors from counseling patients about firearms, and would have imposed fines or even jail time on, for example, pediatricians who inquired about safe storage of guns in homes where children live.
In my own practice, most patients I ask about guns tell me that they don’t own any. This isn’t surprising because Massachusetts has one of the lowest gun ownership rates of any state in the U.S. (and, as it happens, the lowest rate of gun-related deaths).
And it’s possible that some patients don’t wish to discuss their gun ownership with me and choose not to answer my questions about it.
But occasionally I have a conversation such as I had not long ago with a man who lived alone and kept his loaded guns unlocked and accessible. Now and then his young nieces and nephews visited and it hadn’t occurred to him, until I asked, that his firearms might be a hazard to those children.
I’m going to keep asking about firearms, especially in regard to those at highest risk of harm from them: children, patients struggling with depression, patients with difficult family relationships.
As a doctor, why wouldn’t I?
Suzanne Koven is an internal medicine physician who blogs at In Practice at Boston.com, where this article originally appeared. She is the author of Say Hello To A Better Body: Weight Loss and Fitness For Women Over 50.
How long before there’s a government Individuals at Risk watchlist? How long before a customer in a gun store is told, “Sorry, we can’t transfer that gun to you. You’re on the list.”
As you say, a patient’s “off the cuff” remarks could be recorded & go straight into his DOSSIER!!!
Who says the KGB & the Stasi are dead!?
Disagree. IT ISN'T ANY OF THEIR BUSINESS if I have firearms in my house. It isn't anyone's business except MINE if I have a BB gun or a ZPU-4 in my house
What it says to me is as soon as you type that info into the computer data base, the government will know who has and hasn’t got a gun.
“As a patient, I’m going to keep asking doctors about their medical malpractice cases anytime they inquire about guns as part of my health history.”
I think you should also ask them about the number of iatrogenic deaths that occur each year and how many they have had.
Hon, I am right with you.
Bingo.
some physicians think hey are omniscient.
Lets not forget the silverware drawer.. the medicine cabinet.. Garbage disposal. Heck, the flight of steps.
All more likely to kill or injure than a gun in the home.
Everyplace has people with strong opinions about something that pushes the boundries of arrogance. Sure MA is filled with those people, at least those that haven't moved to NYC or CA yet. Just don't confuse MA with the rest of us. Heck, even VT, although it is practically a socialist hippy infested commune, they generally just want to be left alone. ME seems to be taking some steps in becoming more conservative. NH has some of the best guns laws in the country. (along with very low crime, thank you very much arrogant know-it-all doctor).
Thank you for your comments. This issue was starting eat at me to be honest.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/tabor010405.htm
Doctors kill more people per year than guns
Nathan Tabor,
January 4, 2005
Back before the November election, many mainstream media pundits—trying desperately to get John Kerry elected—began to harp on President Bush’s unwillingness to stop certain federal gun control laws from expiring as scheduled. But their propaganda efforts came to naught because this issue was a non-starter with the American people.
The fact is, in this day of post-9/11 increased security consciousness, most average Americans simply don’t want more gun control. They want more guns on hand to defend themselves and their loved ones in the face of possible life-threatening danger. Soccer moms are now taking handgun proficiency courses down at the local firing range.
Liberals are always complaining about getting to the root of the problem—unless it deals with gun rights. Then they abandon all logical analysis and resort to hysteria, distortion and downright lies.
Today I want to set the record straight and dispel a few of the more common myths with some hard facts.
First, according to statistics provided by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, there is an interesting correlation between accidental deaths caused by guns and by doctors.
Doctors: (A) There are 700,000 physicians in the U.S. (B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians total 120,000 per year. (C) Accidental death percentage per physician is 0.171.
Guns: (A) There are 80 million gun owners in the U.S. (B) There are 1,500 accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups. (C) The percentage of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.0000188.
Statistically, then, doctors are 9,000 times more dangerous to the public health than gun owners. Fact: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR. Following the logic of liberals, we should all be warned: “Guns don’t kill people. Doctors do.”
More seriously, Dr. Glen Otero of the Claremont Institute has published an enlightening article entitled Ten Myths About Gun Control. (This entire article can be found at the website of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws www.dsgl.org.) Here are just a few of his well-documented findings.
• Approximately 80 percent of all adult American citizens own firearms, and a gun can be found in nearly half of American households.
• Between 1974 and 1995, the total number of privately owned firearms in America increased by 75 percent, to 236 million. During the same period, national homicide and robbery rates did NOT significantly increase.
• Less than 1 percent of all guns are involved in any type of crime, which means that 99 percent of all guns are NOT used to commit any crime.
• In 1987, the National Crime Victimization Survey estimated that about 83 percent of Americans would become the victims of violent crime during the course of their lifetime.
• The National Self-Defense Survey found that between 1988 and 1993, American civilians used firearms in self-defense almost 2.5 million times per year, saving up to 400,000 lives per year in the process.
• Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens deter crime. Where U.S. counties have enacted concealed-carry laws, murder rates fell by 8 percent, rape by 5 percent, and aggravated assault by 7 percent. Urban counties recorded the largest decreases demographically.
You get the picture: Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. But sometimes law-abiding citizens with guns can save the lives of other innocent people.
It’s time to restore some common sense to the hysterical debate over gun control. When Cain killed Abel with a rock, God didn’t ban all rocks. He dealt with Cain personally. We need to enforce our criminal laws against murder, robbery, and assault.
I will cite the testimony of just one more expert witness. No, it’s not another politician or media pundit. Here’s what former Mafia underboss, self-confessed hit man, and government informant Sammy “The Bull” Gravano had to say: “Gun control? It’s the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I’m a bad guy, I’m always gonna have a gun.
Safety locks? You pull the trigger with a lock on, and I’ll pull the trigger. We’ll see who wins.”
It’s time for Liberals to go out and buy a gun. And maybe get a life or at least protect one.
Copyright © 2004 by Nathan Tabor
Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public policy. He is a contributing editor at: www.theconservativevoice.com, and his 60 commentaries are heard on over 250 stations daily.
Nathan can be reached at: Nathan@NathanTabor.com
It’s good to see that everyone, so far, has come down on the side of the Second Amendment, rather than on the side of the doctors’ supposed First Amendment rights. A while ago, when the Florida law was being debated, there were a couple of people that had a real problem with it - later on they exposed themselves as being medical workers and they just didn’t want the government on their back - LOL.
The appropriate response is to ask why doctors kill more people per year than guns.
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_02.htm
I believe that that is the best approach. Doctors have now, or will, become agents agents of the Government once computerized medical records are fully implemented. How? Then the IRS will have access to one’s medical records and they[the IRS] will share said information that is requested from all other law enforcement agencies, or just forward said information to them. Just deny, deny, deny.
“you have no assurance that your answer will stay in the doctor’s office and not make it to the police station, or to a social worker’s office”
If it did, I’d own everything the doctor owns after the lawsuit.
Well, everything minus 1/2 for the lawyer...
You are going out of business Doc. Buh-bye...
Heh. And as a free-thinking citizen, I will keep feeding you a line of BS a mile long. "Me? Own guns? Never!"
:-)
There were many doctors like Suzanne Koven who helped to build and sustain the Third Reich. They were privileged, for a while. Then in turned against them, too.
“If it did, I’d own everything the doctor owns after the lawsuit. Well, everything minus 1/2 for the lawyer...”
You’d have to find out first.
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