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Doc, what's up with snooping? (Pediatricians turning kids into snitches)
Boston Herald ^ | Thursday, October 4, 2007 | By Michael Graham

Posted on 10/04/2007 4:14:11 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: 2amendmentsisters; bang; banglist; doctors; hillarycare; nannystate; privacy; socialism
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To: darkangel82
decline to answer. We still have the 5th amendment. Well at least we do if we keep the 2nd amendment.
121 posted on 10/05/2007 7:49:27 AM PDT by FlatLandBeer
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To: TexanToTheCore; SubGeniusX

That’s OK. Take your pregnant 14-year-old to Planned Parenthood to abort your grandchild, at they won’t even raise an eyebrow.


122 posted on 10/05/2007 7:53:46 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (As a matter of fact.)
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To: TexanToTheCore; SubGeniusX

That’s OK. Take your pregnant 14-year-old to Planned Parenthood to abort your grandchild, at they won’t even raise an eyebrow.


123 posted on 10/05/2007 7:53:55 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (As a matter of fact.)
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To: SubGeniusX
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.

ROFL!!!! I like that kid's sense of humour.

124 posted on 10/05/2007 7:57:01 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: darkangel82
Here In NJ if the dr even thinks theres a problem DYFS is called ASAP. It happened to my friend who is bi-polar & the dr changed her meds. She acted a bit strange in the office..She was there to get her meds straightened out! But a nurse seeing she had a child called DYFS and they were waiting for her when she got home. Thankfully she lives with her parents so they weren't really able to do anything to her or take her son which they threatened to do . All that did was set her off again. DYFS kept going to the school and asking him questions w/o her permission about his home life. It took a lawyer to get them to back off.

I never want my children to think its ok to lie but I had a long talk with my daughter this morning and told her that if she is asked questions about her home life to tell the persons asking to call home. I said its to the point that people are just too curious about other people's lives . She said to me its none of their business & I'm not telling anyone anything. Sad when you can't trust a doctor or have the school questioning our children.

125 posted on 10/05/2007 9:07:04 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ( zero tolerance to the will of Allah & Muslims ...... dilligaf? with an efg.....)
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To: Gay State Conservative

How much unConstitutional stuff did he veto just to force them to override, or did he just go along to get along, like someone else we know?


126 posted on 10/05/2007 9:36:51 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: Glenmore

Trust is the mortar that holds the bricks of society in place; without it the whole structure collapses only to be covered by the tarp of tyranny.


127 posted on 10/05/2007 9:45:45 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: Mrs. P

Should have said “compound”. And facility with a fence around it, even a picket fence, and conservatives inside, is a “compound”.


128 posted on 10/05/2007 9:53:39 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: GOP_Lady

Havent been to Vegas recently, but even a couple of years ago it was nice for the freedom. You could actually feel the difference.


129 posted on 10/05/2007 9:59:35 AM PDT by boop (Trunk Monkey. Is there anything he can't do?)
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To: boop

Oh, most definitely you can feel the FREEDOM. And I tell you, hubby and I met so many HAPPY ADULTS. It was wonderful. Enjoy your day. :-)


130 posted on 10/05/2007 10:02:18 AM PDT by GOP_Lady
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To: Smokin' Joe
I suppose that'll do it.

I suppose.

(Gulp!)

131 posted on 10/05/2007 10:19:05 AM PDT by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: SubGeniusX

Michael Medved recently had a show on about this very subject after a pediatrician asked his 15 year old son, with his mother out of the room, if he used drugs, was sexually active, what kind of ‘protection’ he used, and if he liked ‘boys or girls.’


132 posted on 10/05/2007 10:25:47 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans who support Rudy owe Bill Clinton an apology.)
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To: webstersII

Try being a homeschool parent (if you’re not one). We’re automatically considered suspects at the pediatrician’s office.

A few years ago, a foster family homeschooling was charged with starving their foster kids. It was the big story on the news, and I had a well-child checkup scheduled for my kids at that time. As soon as the nurses and assistants saw “homeschooled” in their files, they started making comments and the accusations began to fly. The doctor took a quick look at their medical records and jumped to conclusions, yelling at me and accusing me of medical neglect right in front of my kids. We ended up having a big argument in front of them. Her accusations were entirely unfounded, but her status as doctor led my own kids to begin questioning if I was right or wrong.

She did calm down once she began examining and interviewing my kids and me further.

Another time, I had to bring one of my children to an eye doctor. Around that time, an article was passing around to doctors “warning” them to watch out for homeschoolers and how to interact with homeschool parents. Local homeschoolers got a hold of it and were passing it around. So, the eye doctor was acting normally until the end of the examination, when he found out my child was homeschooled. Immediately, the expression on his face changed, and he began saying exactly the things the article instructed doctors to say. It was hilarious. He had no idea I already knew what to expect from him.

I’ve never left my kids alone with a doctor. I never saw a reason to. I would be suspicious of any doctor who asked me to leave the room.


133 posted on 10/05/2007 12:29:21 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Tired of Taxes

That’s pretty hostile. What part of the US do you live in?


134 posted on 10/05/2007 4:03:33 PM PDT by webstersII
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To: SubGeniusX

Welcome to Hillary Matters’ socialized medicine and people control.


135 posted on 10/05/2007 4:05:13 PM PDT by Tarpon
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To: SubGeniusX

Nice graphic.


136 posted on 10/05/2007 8:10:14 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: pandoraou812; SubGeniusX; All
Rush mentioned this article during his show today:

Michael Graham today has a column in the Boston Herald, and it's fascinating

137 posted on 10/05/2007 8:13:40 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: webstersII

I live in NJ, and this is the least hostile place to homeschool. I think I just walked into the wrong place at the wrong time. At first, I was caught by surprise. Later, I realized that terrible story all over the news must’ve been on the minds of that doctor and the nurses and assistants.

And I know school parents are accused by doctors, too, as this article indicates, because I’ve heard similar stories from them. It all depends on the doctor... and what stories have been on the news.


138 posted on 10/05/2007 10:14:17 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: webstersII

I should add to my last post: I had to rush my youngest into the same doctor not long afterward for what turned out to be a rather minor cut above his eye (but I panicked and thought he might need stitches). I thought for sure she would make some kind of accusation, but instead she was very nice. Either she didn’t remember me (which is doubtful - she was their doctor from their newborn days onward), or she realized she’d made a mistake the last time.


139 posted on 10/05/2007 10:25:07 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

No don’t do that ! They are only doing what they have to do to keep their state issued medical licenses . As such they aren’t worth the price of the lead, brass, powder & primers to shoot . The state govt. flunkies that pushed them into being spies for the creeping fascist authoritarianism are worth the price of a bullet.


140 posted on 10/06/2007 12:14:13 AM PDT by Nebr FAL owner (.308 reach out & thump someone .50 cal.Browning Machine gun reach out & crush someone)
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