Prevent pediatricians from discussing gun safety with parents

[Maura]

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article....04%2F22%2F2015

Pediatricians discuss potential environmental hazards for kids with parents. This includes seatbelt or booster seat use and warnings on the safe storage of potentially abusable medications.

A doc in Florida is having trouble discussing the safe storage of guns in homes. The parents are offended. There is talk of litigation to prevent doctors from mentioning gun safety.

I remember when old refrigerators with latches and handles were deemed unsafe if stored unchained. Kids would climb in, get locked in, and suffocate. That was an environmental hazard which was addressed.

I think muzzling pediatricians on discussing gun storage is going too far. What are your thoughts?

[mpan72]

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article....04%2F22%2F2015

Pediatricians discuss potential environmental hazards for kids with parents. This includes seatbelt or booster seat use and warnings on the safe storage of potentially abusable medications.

A doc in Florida is having trouble discussing the safe storage of guns in homes. The parents are offended. There is talk of litigation to prevent doctors from mentioning gun safety.

I remember when old refrigerators with latches and handles were deemed unsafe if stored unchained. Kids would climb in, get locked in, and suffocate. That was an environmental hazard which was addressed.

I think muzzling pediatricians on discussing gun storage is going too far. What are your thoughts?

I am against mandating what a doctor can or cannot discuss with their patients.

Gun safety is a very important part of gun ownership and I think it is a good idea for doctors to adress the subject.

If I don't agree with how or what my childrens doctor approaches gun safety I will let them know I have my own opinions on it and ask them to refrain from bringing it up again. That goes with anything not just gun safety.

[mosseater]

The very notion that Doctors have unquestioned carte blanche to grill patients about lifestyle choices is just another accepted social engineering step toward gubbermint control. They need to stick to the medicine. Period. What I choose to do with my gun....car, lawnmower, fishing pole, garden rake, five gallon bucket, etc., is NONE of their fucking business. That is, until the ravages of Obama Care become instilled in every citizen's mind as the new "normal". 'Cause that's what it's all about. Not health care. People control! They can suck it. I made up my mind a long time ago that any Dr. trying to gain ground on these questions to my kids or myself will lose my business. Walking out right on the spot and writing letters to the local paper naming names. Whatever it takes to squash it. And if everybody was of same mindset they would not be doing it. But since there are so many mealy-mouth tofu eaters who think the government is here to help, it's easy for them to get a pass, and so it becomes entrenched in people's minds that "...this is what doctors do. They're just doing their job."

Bullshit! And should be labeled such at every waking opportunity.

[pennlineman]

I think muzzling pediatricians on discussing gun storage is going too far. What are your thoughts?

It's none of his business if there are weapons in the household. As such he should have no knowledge as to the presence of firearms or not. Unless of course he is pumping the children and or parents for that information which I view as an unwanted intrusion of privacy.

Also, what exactly makes a pediatrician an authority on firearms storage? Another intrusion that may be used against you in the future. No thanks.

[scruff]

I'm all for pediatricians talking about gun safety, if they speak with EVERYONE instead of prying into peoples' business, and if they actually knew what they were talking about. Teach Eddie Eagle rules for the young kids, and Jeff Cooper's rules for the older kids. Liberals say they need to teach sex ed because it's unrealistic to think that all kids will abstain. Well, sooner or later some kids are going to come in contact with a gun in an unsupervised setting, or they're going to grow up to be gun owners, so they need Jeff Cooper's rules, not demonization and hysteria.

[twency]

I'm reluctant to go along with muzzling individuals' ability to speak, even in the setting of licensed professional conduct.

But the underlying problem here is that for some doctors "discussing the safe storage of guns" means telling patients and parents of patients they should remove all guns from their home. There have been several examples of handouts from pediatricians' offices posted online showing this advice.

Imagine if a doctor's office was advising Christian patients that they should stop believing in God, or telling atheist patients they ought to start going to church every week. That would be a boundary violation, and many more people would be up in arms (so to speak) about it than are upset about physicians handing out advice regarding gun ownership despite both involving natural rights protected by the Constitution.

[mosseater]

I am against mandating what a doctor can or cannot discuss with their patients.

Gun safety is a very important part of gun ownership and I think it is a good idea for doctors to adress the subject.

If I don't agree with how or what my childrens doctor approaches gun safety I will let them know I have my own opinions on it and ask them to refrain from bringing it up again. That goes with anything not just gun safety.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying if you have questions about it you should be prevented from asking. If you want to discuss it with your doctor, by all means, have at it. I just can't fathom why anyone would, though. Making it a matter of course for them to bring up is another matter altogether. I doubt many people go to their doctor and ask for safety advice on guns, cars, swimming pools, et al. I actually don't have much problem with the recent commercial on tv about keeping a gun YOU'RE NOT USING locked up out of children's reach. My only problem with passing on good gun advice is who's doing the passing, and what their agenda is. For instance, in the commercial I reference, is a "gun you're not using" the one on your side 24/7, simply because one is not involved in the act of firing it at the range? Don't know the answer to the question because I don't know anything about the organization who proffers the advice, and what their agenda might be. Just in general, locking up guns not in "use", away from ignorant, untrained fingers, is a good idea that makes sense. Digging further, it's sad that legitimate, reasonable, responsible gun owners need to be told that. Just don't happen to believe it's a doctor's responsibility or need to bring the subject up as a matter of course during a medical exam, and certainly not because it's been mandated for a political agenda. That's offensive and I'll not tolerate it.

[mosseater]

I'm all for pediatricians talking about gun safety, if they speak with EVERYONE instead of prying into peoples' business, and if they actually knew what they were talking about. Teach Eddie Eagle rules for the young kids, and Jeff Cooper's rules for the older kids. Liberals say they need to teach sex ed because it's unrealistic to think that all kids will abstain. Well, sooner or later some kids are going to come in contact with a gun in an unsupervised setting, or they're going to grow up to be gun owners, so they need Jeff Cooper's rules, not demonization and hysteria.

'Zactly!

[Gunsnwater]

It's back back door gun registration. Nazi bull crap. Dr at the front line of who goes where. Why enter a slippery slope for no reason.

[Coops]

One aspect of this is that the anti gunners are beginning to use the argument that guns are a health issue not a social or freedom issue.
The new Surgeon General is no where near qualified for the job but he was appointed by Obama because he bundled money for his campaign and was highly controversial for that very position.

Now remember that the government has REQUIRED you to have insurance. So they can check off some boxes here. If everyone has insurance and everyone goes to a doctor and the doctor is required by the insurance company to ask about health issues and guns are a health issue. Connect the dots. The very next step is to raise insurance rates for unsafe practices... like owning a gun.

Doctors also ask if you have signs of depression. I went in for a blood clot recently and the doctors are all asking me questions about my mental health. I finally said WTF and they admitted that they are required by obamacare to look for depression. I wonder why? If it also says on my chart that I am a gun owner, then I guess I can expect a visit from the sheriff.

Going to a doctor is no longer just you and the doctor, it is you and the doctor and the insurance company and the government.