In FL
Judge blocks law prohibiting doctors from asking about guns in the home.
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September 15th, 2011 at 9:30 am
“A practitioner who counsels a patient on firearm safety, even when entirely irrelevant to medical care or safety, does not affect or interfere with the patient’s right to continue to own, possess or use firearms,” she added.
As far as I concerned a doctor has no business counseling anyone for anything in their professional capacity; other than medicine…
September 15th, 2011 at 9:39 am
You can still fire the doctor, though, right?
September 15th, 2011 at 9:39 am
I’m kinda on the fence on this one, but leaning toward agreeing with the Judge’s decision. If a Dr. asked me whether or not I had firearms in the home, my response would be something a-tune to “none of your *&%$(*# business.” As long as there are no repercussions to the patient for not answering the question, I think creating a law which prohibits a physician from simply asking, although a bit invasive, the question infringes more upon the 1st Amendment than it does the 2nd. Sometimes the NRA loses sight of the fact that most gun owners, contrary to popular belief, respect the whole COTUS and not just the 2nd Amendment.
There might be parts of this law of which i’m not aware that would change my opinion. But if we’re simply talking about levying fines and penalties for asking about firearm ownership, especially if I have the option to tell you to go pound sand up your a**, i don’t see the need for yet another law.
September 15th, 2011 at 9:44 am
Almost forgot my magical cure to this.. LIE!!!
September 15th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Good. It shouldn’t be a crime for a private citizen to ask annoying questions.
September 15th, 2011 at 10:28 am
The Law was passed to prevent an end-around. Here’s the Logic: Doctor asks if you have Guns in the Home with Children. You say “Yes.” Doctor then calls Children’s Services. SWAT comes, fills you full of Lead, and takes your Kids away, because these “Medical Associations” (all who support ObamaCare) KNOW that an Inanimate Object like a Firearm is just waiting to jump out of a Nightstand to kill 3 year olds.
Keep in mind that the Florida Governor is a Doctor, that he won by running against ObamaCare, and that there’s probably something buried in ObamaCare that says Doctors MUST Snitch. Hence the State Law. Notice that it went to FEDERAL Court, not the State system, and the FEDERAL Judge is most likely a Leftie.
Another case for Alan G. to take to SCOTUS, probably.
September 15th, 2011 at 10:51 am
“You can still fire the doctor, though, right?”
At least until Obamacare becomes law! 😉
September 15th, 2011 at 11:24 am
I don’t much care for a doctor asking such intrusive questions, but I sure as hell don’t think it warrants a 5 year jail term. You can always tell them its none of their business.
Seems like people on both sides want to criminalize behavior they don’t like.
September 15th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Look the Doctor straight in the eye, and say, “Doc, you’ve just asked me a personal question that has nothing to do with my health, so I decline to answer it. I need to warn you that whatever your so-called professional organizations tell you, it will be damn hard for you to succeed in your primary mission of healing and preventing DISEASE if you lose the confidence of your patients. I suggest that you don’t do this any more.”
At that point, if the Doc does ANYTHING but apologize, consider your medical relationship with him/her ended, then post as much information as you can about that doc online.
BTW, this is why it is always a good idea to have another family member with you on your medical appointments. Most docs allow that, and the ability of that family member to be a witness can be VERY valuable.
September 15th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Addendum: this quote from the article is Bee Ess:
“In addition, they could not enter the response into a database, although Judge Cooke wrote that such medical information was already protected from disclosure by federal law.”
Federal officials violate HIPAA all the time, and the law is full of holes anyway, since all sorts of government orgs have been granted “medical” rights. Orgs such as Children’s Services, etc can always get medical information.
BTW, isn’t that Judge’s view of Free Speech a bit dated? I seem to recall a Supreme Court case several decades ago that said that third parties could not bring actions on Free Speech, it had to be the one affected by the denial of that right. But, I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t cite the Reporter number or anything like that.
September 15th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
This whole business of legislating from the bench is getting tiresome.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
One of the (very few) advantages of being a single, (grouchy) old, male Texan. I would look him in the eye and say “Of course I have a gun. I’m a Texan. You want to see it?”
September 15th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Haven’t thoroughly thought through — wow, that’s an unintended tongue twister — the matter, but I do like David Codrea’s suggested questionaire/release to present to the doctor. I.e.: make him certify that he is an expert in firearms safety and document what his malpractice insurance company says about the matter.
But for the moment, I think my response would be to pause for a moment and then say, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that last question. Maybe you should check my hearing, too.” And simply repeat that line every time he tries to ask the question again.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
I’m kinda leaning towards the judge on this one. Legislating what doctors ask their patients is one of the many reasons I’m opposed to Obamacare.
September 15th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
If the doctor is really interested in just informing the patient about the doctor’s personal opinions on gun ownership and safety, all the doctor needs to do is hand a pamphlet to all patients explaining the doctors opinions. They do not need to ask any questions, just assume that everyone owns a firearm and give the information to everyone. If they don’t ask questions then they don’t break this law, but they still get to practice their right to free speech.
September 15th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
The law is dumb but the judges’ decision is wrong on the merits of the constitutional claims and rather obviously so.
September 15th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Course in Florida your CPA needs to know all about your sexual practices to properly do your accounting too.