Actually I don’t see why they cannot ask about firearms.
It’s whether they force the patient to answer that is the issue.
The Florida law did not have an exception for suicidal/homicidal ideation (where asking if you have a plan and the means is standard of care).
Otherwise, as you say, asking is OK, compulsion is not. And abandonment is never OK.
If asked the question, I could just lie, but instead might counter with - Doctor, I support Patient-Physician Confidentiality! After I answer that question, will you promise me that you nor anyone from your office will disclose my answer to anyone outside of your practice.
If Dr. responses that he/she can not promise disclosure might not be released, then I can give him/her the answer they seek, with fingers crossed. No, I do not own a gun. -
1) I own more then a gun,
2) I gave my guns to my dog.
3) Any gun around belong to my estate and thus not to me as an individual.
4) Any other answer I can think up.
I understand the purpose for the question - Will my patient, in a desperate moment take their own life. I just don't believe the Government should begin in any way in infringe on the 2nd amendment.
I have no problem with anyone asking me any question. The problem lies when the “authority” asking the questions feel entitled to a response.
Doctor: Are you feeling depressed?
Me: No. Not at all. My moods are pretty stable.
Doctor: Are you having any long term or short term memory problems?
Me: No. My memories are completely intact and contiguous.
Doctor: Are there any guns in your house?
Me: I forget.
If looks could maim, I'd have left that office in a basket.
I agree. Apparently a doctor refused to see a patient for refusing to answer. I was filling out a form for a doctor once and my answer to the gun ownership question was “nyb”. I hoped to be asked what it meant, but never was. Not your business.
Since doctors can refuse to see patients they see as a liability risk and are already refusing to see anti-vaccination patients, there may be doctors who want to similarly segregate gun owners.
The problem is that most people, when caught unawares, will blurt out an answer. Even when it is something that they would not have answered had they had a minute to think about it. So this will allow doctors to ask nunofyerbizness questions and have them answered even when the patient may have intended not to answer.
And if you think you would not fall for this, it’s probably true. Those of us reading this are aware, so therefore not easy targets for this sort of thing. But how confident are you that your spouse or child will not blurt out the answer? Or even offer it freely? That is why this should be illegal.
First, I would take out my phone and tell him the conversation will be recorded. Then reverse the roles of interrogator and subject; question him and his reason for asking, then ask a question of my own as a response to any question he asks. Two can play the game.
I guarantee you: a refusal or an evasion will be reported to the “appropriate” authority.
And if they crosscheck the answer with federal agencies and find out it was a lie, then what?
Exactly. They can ask all they want, and I can say “None of your FU****G business.”
There isn’t a law against that yet that I know of.
