“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.”
Since when do doctors have anything to do with child safety? They are supposed to be doctors. Doctors exist to diagnose and treat ailments, not to go out of their training element and work in the “field of child safety.” They are unqualified by reason of lack of training and credentials to be involved in “child safety” at all. For them to do so is committing fraud.
But now this whole issue is burgeoning. As a senior citizen, I have to deal with a phalanx of questions regarding my sanity, my interest in harming myself, and the number of times (if any) I have fallen in the past x number of months. I just had a physical. These questions were on a form I was disposed to fill out and sign, they were asked by the nurse, and again by the doctor, and all of it is transcribed into your “medical history” electronically.
So not only do you have to be wary of gun questions, but also mental health inquiries. I simply don’t answer any of it. It’s none of their business. And if the time comes when my current physician gets truculent about any of it, he’s lost a patient.
I know exactly what you're talking about. Doctors ask more questions these days about alcohol use (how many drinks/day?), smoking (how much or when did you quit?), caffeine (how many cups of coffee/day?), dizzy spells, falling, forgetfulness, etc., etc., etc. And I know that many of these questions are not relevant to my circumstances.
But I don't want the government to decide for my doctor what questions he can or cannot ask!
For people who don't want to be asked certain questions, a better solutions is for them to simply decline to answer or, if they don't even want particular questions asked, they can (when making the appointment to see a new doctor) ask for a commitment that the doctor will not ask certain questions.
We don't need more government regulations in the health care field. We need less, not more, government.