Doctors and guns
A non-thought provoking piece getting gun safety wrong from the official journal of not-doctors. I play poker with a doctor and we discussed this one night. He said it was the position of some regulatory body but most doctors ignored it. Rightfully, he thought.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
We have a wonderful pediatrician for my daughter since she was born.
First visit, first question:
“Are there any smokers in the house?” Mommy says, “Daddy”. If looks (from the doctor) could kill…. I hurry to defend myself, “I don’t smoke in the house”.
Second question: “Are there any guns in the house?” My wife and I lie through our teeth, “No”.
Seven and a half years later, at doctor’s office. He has some dipshit poster about gun violence hung up in his waiting room. My daughter talking to a little boy also waiting to see the doctor, about the poster:
“Guns are not bad, violence is bad. It’s ok to shoot at targets. You must not shoot at people. Unless you’re a soldier and go to war.”
Without any prompting from mommy or daddy.
And he is a wonderful doctor and we like him very much.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
The Mrs. got asked the question on her last physical. She answered truthfully, and when the doctor tossed out the bullshit counterpoints somebody (who may or may-not sleep in the same bed as her) had already discussed the verious levels of bullshit on that.
Sounds like Doc backed down in full-retreat and tossed up the “Well that’s just what I’ve heard…” flag mighty quick.
Heh, we’re winning!
December 8th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
As the spouse of a Texas pediatrician, who reports that essentially all doctors in her large practice are Obamabot liberals, I can report that here in the Austin area that question does not get asked a lot, as the answer always is and will be, “Of course I have guns (plural), don’t you?”
December 8th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
“Ready! Fire! Aim!”
Is this a joke?
December 8th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Unfortunately, the American Academy of Pediatricians has made that comment a professional standard….
Fortunately, I belong to different academies… If I asked the question it would go “Got guns? Me too, keep them stored safely”.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I’d ask to see his (her) credentials as a risk-management specialist and ask how his (her) underwriter feels about him (her) advising patients in an area in which he (she) had no training or qualification.
Or ask if the doc had any porn in his (her) house.
December 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Had a Kaiser Permanente doc hand this one to me. I asked him for his firearms safety certification, and asked him if he knew what an ethics boundary violation was.
Questionnaire was permanently roundfiled.
This piece of crap gets getting resurrected by bradyite clowns, and generally goes away when someone with a clue complains.
December 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
If I answered (which I would not), I’d say something along the lines of, “Of course, what kind of husband and father won’t defend his family”!
December 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
They also just disabled commenting on the entry…I wonder why.
December 8th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I like the weasel warning in University of Washington’s initial study.
The say Physicians should be trained in counseling gun safety … so, will every physician who talks to their patients about firearms take NRA or better grade gun safety courses?
They should at least be certified as Instructors before they open their yaps to give advice to others.
December 8th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Visited the root site (some PA quack site) and downgraded the rating to one star. Then noted that the blog owner disabled all comments. What a jag-off.
December 8th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
It’s a matter of psychological conditioning, like Pavlov’s dogs. Physician’s assistants just haven’t been shot in the foot enough when they ask that question. After getting a hole in the foot a few times, they’ll associate the question with getting shot in the foot and they’ll stop asking. So you see, it’s just a matter of applying psychology to the problem, and a 230 grain hollow point.
December 8th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
closing comments is not surprising. When the truth gets in the way of one’s wishes, the truth must be silenced, if possible, ignored if not.
December 8th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I should mention that it’s not actually necessary to foot shoot the medical socialist. A gruff tirade full of indecent epithets will suffice. It need not be entirely coherent and is likely to be more effective if it’s not. If enough gun owners vent adequately at them, the medical profession will get the message, stop acting like communist block captains, and do their doctoring with an appropriate dose of respect and humility. If that fails, shoot ’em in the foot! Might only take one or two foot shots for word to get around the profession that it’s not healthy to ask that question.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
As a general rule, though, you and your doctor should be able to talk about anything. It is a personal relationship.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Not only were the comments closed, she deleted the ones that were there.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
But not a privileged one. Almost everything you say to your doctor is admissible against you in a court of law.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Bob G, refer to comment 13.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Look up the term “Medical Ethics Boundary Violation”.
Then get back to me after you have obtained a clue.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
This isn’t new, but they’re picking the wrong decade (century, millennium) to hack it back up. It’s a violation of that “personal relationship.”
My doctor is leaving practice (yes, it’s political) and I’m looking for a new one. They’re touchy. Their offices do not answer any questions about their background; there is nothing like the BBB (in fact, malpractice findings are usually covered by confidentiality agreements); they annoy easily when you ask them direct questions. Let’s teach them a lesson and nationalize the whole industry!
Any worm-sized peepee who keeps that survey after having read it is just dying for a chance to rat you out. Don’t trust them with your family’s care or anything else.
Mechanics have a better sense of professional ethics.
But my dentist and ophthalmologist are both shooters.
So there is that.