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Should Doctors Ask Older People If They Have Guns At Home?
vpr.net ^ | July 9, 201

Posted on 07/09/2013 9:40:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Older men are at high risk of suicide, and they're far more likely to kill themselves if they have access to firearms.

Doctors should ask relatives of older people with depression or cognitive problems if there are guns in the home, much as they might ask about whether it's time to take away the car keys, an academic paper says.

"There's been so much attention to the role of physicians and the safety of young children when there are guns in the home," says Marshall Kapp, a professor and director of the Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine and Law at Florida State University, and author of the paper. "We really haven't seen much discussion in the physicians' role regarding older patients."

For decades, pediatricians have asked parents about guns in the home and safe storage methods, in an effort to reduce accidental deaths and suicides among children and teenagers. But there are no similar physician policies for adults.

With older adults, "we don't think about prevention and safety the way we would with children," Kapp told Shots. "An older person who is seriously compromised by mental disorders is in many respects as helpless and vulnerable and dependent as a child would be."

Men are far more likely to commit suicide than are women, and are more likely to use firearms. Higher rates of gun ownership correlate with higher suicide rates. That's one reason why public health officials look at firearms access as a possible means of preventing suicides.

Kapp's paper, which was published in Annals of Internal Medicine, focuses on reducing the suicide risk in older adults.

But doctors might need to start asking if middle-aged men have a gun cabinet, too.

Suicide rates among middle-aged men have risen over the past decade, from 21.5 to 27.3 per 100,000 from 1999 to 2010. That rivals the rate among white men over 65, of 30 per 100,000. White men over 85 have the highest suicide rate of any group, at 47 per 100,000.

Researchers say it's unclear why older men are more apt to kill themselves. It could be risk factors such as social isolation and lack of coping skills, or easier access to lethal means.

Kapp thinks it will soon become "prudent practice" for physicians to ask about guns in older patients' homes, but no medical organizations have proposed such a policy. It would also mean that family members may have to act, which can be difficult, as anyone who has dealt with an older parent and the issue of driving can attest.

And talking about guns with patients and their families can be politically dicey.

Last year Florida passed a law, dubbed the "Docs vs. Glocks" law, restricting doctor-patient discussions about guns. But an appeals court upheld the doctors' right to discuss gun safety. Other states have considered similar laws, but haven't enacted them.


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: banglist; democrat; democrats; guncontrol; guns; men; obama; secondamendment
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To: pterional

Coach your kids what to say to the doctor about firearms.

Then insist on accompanying the kids into the exam room. After all, they’re minors. Don’t leave them alone with the medical staff.


61 posted on 07/10/2013 9:26:19 AM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a chain of convenience stores.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

I had a different problem with my last Doc. He wanted to know about what reloading gear I had and where he could get some.


62 posted on 07/10/2013 9:28:16 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: LibLieSlayer
As soon as you refuse to answer him the NSA and everyone else will have you on a list to watch.

I'm already on many of their "lists to watch". I'm not losing any sleep over it.

63 posted on 07/10/2013 10:13:24 AM PDT by DustyMoment (Congress - another name for the American politburo!!)
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To: Mamzelle

Excuse me - I never threatened or said anything bad about doctors! However, unless they are at the range and prove to me that they have more knowledge than me about how to handle a firearm then they can keep their mouths shut about my firearm use/ownership!

Do you think they’d take medical advice from me? NO. Nor should they. My brain is quite “tuned in” and I’m not showing off at all. Now go back and sit in the corner sucking your thumb like a good subject.


64 posted on 07/10/2013 11:22:44 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama ( www.2asisters.org | Self defense is a basic human right!)
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To: 2nd amendment mama
They don't want to ask you these nosy questions. They are coerced into it and it's not a point I seem to be able to make. Not now, and not ever ive trued on a doxen threads You don't have to read very far to find hostile responses here that people suggest you make to the physician.

If people won't believe that the doctor can't choose to not ask the question, and you insist that this us something the dic wants to do and it p-sses you off--don't go to the dic, period. And if anyone wants to be belligerent, guess what? it'll get charted and be part of your permanent record

So take my advice. The doctor cannot compel an answer. Just refuse to snswer

65 posted on 07/10/2013 11:55:39 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: 2nd amendment mama

Doc not dic. I get so tired if this spellcheck.


66 posted on 07/10/2013 11:56:57 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: circlecity

It is a crime if you’re lying to get narcotics. I don’t know that it’s a crime in any other capacity nor is it likely to be. Lying about guns is probably safe, and the doc has satisfied his dictators upstairs by asking the question.


67 posted on 07/10/2013 12:03:00 PM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine and Law at Florida State University

Just what we need, academics in the medical and legal field spouting off about how the real world should be run. You know what they say; the longer the name of an organization, the more likely it is to want to take rights and invade privacy.

68 posted on 07/10/2013 1:01:26 PM PDT by Hoffer Rand (There ARE two Americas: "God's children" and the tax payers)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation
Ever read Wizard's First Rule? Interesting sci fi/fantasy book, but the thing that stuck out to me was what rule is. "People are stupid. They will believe what they want to believe or what they are afraid might be true." The wizard in the book says magic is so powerful, because people are afraid, as if you were somehow more dead having been killed by magic than if you had been killed by some other means. Same thing goes for the gun control nuts. They believe you are somehow more dead having been killed by a gun (or an SUV) than if you had been killed by other means. And the wizard's first rule applies here, too. People are stupid.
69 posted on 07/10/2013 1:08:21 PM PDT by Hoffer Rand (There ARE two Americas: "God's children" and the tax payers)
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To: circlecity
You just know that it is coming. I am seeing doctors opening private clinics and not taking any government funds. It may bring back free market health care... the kind that we pay for... like when I was younger. They may end up getting what they never wanted... and what they really want is single payer and the start of full blown communism.

LLS

70 posted on 07/10/2013 3:30:25 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!)
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To: DustyMoment

I know that I am. I love this republic and I am a Christian that believes in limited government, only necessary regulation (we need some government), fair trade, and not this garbage of NAFTA... that is something else that they lie about. I believe in States Rights and Constitutional Original Intent. I love women, guns, fast cars, boats and high tech electronics... and I love FREE REPUBLIC. Heck... they have me a reserved spot in the first NSA internment camp!

LLS


71 posted on 07/10/2013 3:37:07 PM PDT by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Doctors should practice medicine. Period.


72 posted on 07/12/2013 3:12:52 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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