Doc, what's up with snooping? (Pediatricians turning kids into snitches)

Boston Herald ^ | Thursday, October 4, 2007 | By Michael Graham

[SubGeniusX]

They’re watching you right now.

They counted every beer you drank during last night’s Red Sox game.

They see you sneaking out to the garage for a smoke.

They know if you’ve got a gun, and where you keep it.

They’re your kids, and they’re the National Security Agency of the Nanny State.

I found this out after my 13-year-old daughter’s annual checkup. Her pediatrician grilled her about alcohol and drug abuse.

Not my daughter’s boozing. Mine.

“The doctor wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it’s too much,” my daughter told us afterward, rolling her eyes in that exasperated 13-year-old way. “She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house.”

“What!” I yelped. “Who told her about my stasher, I mean, ‘It’s an outrage!’ ”

I turned to my wife. “You took her to the doctor. Why didn’t you say something?”

She couldn’t, she told me, because she knew nothing about it. All these questions were asked in private, without my wife’s knowledge or consent.

“The doctor wanted to know how we get along,” my daughter continued. Then she paused. “And if, well, Daddy, if you made me feel uncomfortable.”

Great. I send my daughter to the pediatrician to find out if she’s fit to play lacrosse, and the doctor spends her time trying to find out if her mom and I are drunk, drug-addicted sex criminals.

We’re not alone, either. Thanks to guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported by the commonwealth, doctors across Massachusetts are interrogating our kids about mom and dad’s “bad” behavior.

We used to be proud parents. Now, thanks to the AAP, we’re “persons of interest.”

The paranoia over parents is so strong that the AAP encourages doctors to ignore “legal barriers and deference to parental involvement” and shake the children down for all the inside information they can get.

And that information doesn’t stay with the doctor, either.

Debbie is a mom from Uxbridge who was in the examination room when the pediatrician asked her 5-year-old, “Does Daddy own a gun?”

When the little girl said yes, the doctor began grilling her and her mom about the number and type of guns, how they are stored, etc.

If the incident had ended there, it would have merely been annoying.

But when a friend in law enforcement let Debbie know that her doctor had filed a report with the police about her family’s (entirely legal) gun ownership, she got mad.

She also got a new doctor.

In fact, the problem of anti-gun advocacy in the examining room has become so widespread that some states are considering legislation to stop it.

Last year, my 7-year-old was asked about my guns during his physical examination. He promptly announced to the doctor that his father is the proud owner of a laser sighted plasma rifle perfect for destroying Throggs.

At least as of this writing, no police report has been filed.

“I still like my previous pediatrician,” Debbie told me. “She seemed embarrassed to ask the gun questions and apologized afterward. But she didn’t seem to have a choice.”

Of course doctors have a choice.

They could choose, for example, to ask me about my drunken revels, and not my children.

They could choose not to put my children in this terrible position.

They could choose, even here in Massachusetts, to leave their politics out of the office.

But the doctors aren’t asking us parents.

They’re asking our kids.

Worst of all, they’re asking all kids about sexual abuse without any provocation or probable cause.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared all parents guilty until proven innocent.

And then they wonder why we drink.

[darkangel82]

Not to butt in, but you shouldn’t be leaving your kids alone with the doctor at any age.

[steve86]

If any PA gives you trouble of ANY kind, ask him why he didn’t become a REAL DOCTOR. Same goes for her/she. Then ask if you can be transferred to a REAL DOCTOR. Disclaimer: I have actually had better luck with PAs. But then I’m not in a place where they ask questions like that.

[SandRat]

Parents teach your children to answer “NYB (none-ya-business)! If you want to know ask them! (Mom/Dad) is right outside.”

[SubGeniusX]

I blame the democRATs and RINOs in government.

There FIFY

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

I wouldn’t say that-YET. Their still in the minority in the smoking threads. Their numbers are growing here, though.

[Gondring]

It's Massachusetts.

As the popular bumper sticker points out, they might better ask, "Do your parents let you ride with the Senator?"

If I had a doc who asked such questions, I might be tempted to ask back, "Tell me, Doc...are you one of those irresponsible parents who has no way of defending your children?" or "You first, Doc... are you a low-risk target?"

[Eric Blair 2084]

Does this surprise anyone?

Progressive Socialists seek control. It’s very difficult to control grown adults. No matter how much they whine adults can still drink, smoke, eat as much as they want.

Their only hope is the Hitler Youth who they indoctrinate through public school education.

[fernwood]

This happened at my sons pediatrician when he was about 13 -14 or 4-5 years ago. I was in the bathroom and came back as the question about guns was asked.I came in and answered that it was none of their business and that we happened to believe in the 2nd amendment. I then said if they worried about safe storage that if we had any they were safely stored. Then the questions about using a helmet when riding a bike. My son answered that he sometimes wore one when his parents insisted.He said that it not the states business but the parents authority, whether to require that or not. Then the doctor said that if we knew about the head injuries we would change our minds. She went on and assumed that we agree with the seat belt laws.I answered that I thought it was better to wear a seat belt but that was my decision ,not the states. She went on about seeing the injuries. I countered by saying I inspected the wrecked cars and still do not agree about the law. Then I shut down the second hand smoke by saying she obviously had not read the study but the summary that was written by the advocates. That the study had no evidence of dangers from second hand smoke. Then I attacked about if we ruled against everything due to danger then we could not enjoy any sports. At that point, the doctor shut up and never tried to force their views on us.

I had been warned by another parent who was in the military and had a doctor grill her child about parents smoking and guns. The parent complained to the brass and had the doctor yanked from giving physicals of children.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Alright, this story is just too good. I'll use tomorrows ration of the Big Brother ping on it.

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[2nd amendment mama]

Thanks for pointing that out Eaker! We’ve been handing this out for years.

[2nd amendment mama]

How true you are....sickening, isn’t it and very scary!

[Gabz]

It really, really and truly bothers me.

[Titan Magroyne]

for later perusal

[elkfersupper]

I was asked about gun ownership by a doctor in New Mexico in 1999.

This happened to me in the same location in 1988, when I took my 4-yr.-old son into an emergency room for a couple of stitches on his brow over the bridge of his nose after he rammed it into a sharp corner of a piece of furniture while tearing around the house like a Boston Bulldog on speed.

I told the physician it was none of his business, left with my son, and patched him up with superglue and a butterfly bandage (repeated often, after that incident).

Physicians are complicit in instituting the nanny state, and should be scorned and spurned at every opportunity.

[healy61]

Then as you get ready to leave with your child, you ask,Did anyone touch you and make you feel scared? Did anyone give you mean looks? Are you scared of anybody in the hospital?

Then to top it off, tell the doctor (regardless of the child’s answers), I think we will find another hospital in the future.

[Smokin' Joe]

If they spent less time doing social engineering and fishing for 'things', maybe some of the ones around here would have a prayer of being able to diagnose a hangnail.

As it is, I have no faith in the medical community.

[Smokin' Joe]

It really, really and truly bothers me.

They used smoking to get this foot in the totalitarian door.

Until mom and pop two-job suburbia realizes just what a world of chicken dung can come down on them from this, it will continue to advance.

I cut my finger pretty thoroughly when prying apart some slices of frozen roast beef one night. Drove the 25 miles to the ER I knew was open to get sewn up.

The doctor informed me that he had to inform the police because it was a knife wound.

I said "For a kitchen accident?"

"Yep. "

When the deputy arrived he asked me "What happened?"

I informed him, with suitable gravitas, that "The roast beef won." (after all, it was back in the fridge, relatively unmolested, and I was in the ER, hungry, and getting stitches in my finger.)

The look on his face was worth the price of the ER visit, the nurses got a kick out of it, and even the doctor was forced to admit it was a pretty dumb rule.

Unfortunately, the rule being "dumb" does not stop them.

As for the statists, I'll continue to speak out against them and their philosophies. Some will see the error of their ways, and the others will show their true colors.

If we are intimidated, they will win, because that is the entire thrust of their tactics, to intimidate us into compliance.

[Quix]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Globalism marches on ........ into every neighborhood

[traviskicks]

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