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First and most obviously, a doctor has the RIGHT to ask you any damned question that he likes, just as you have a right not to answer it.
Is it ethical and medically wise for a doctor to ask if you own a gun, in some cases it is critical. If you suffer from PTSD or even minor depression the drugs that are prescribe to treat those issues can in fact cause deeper depression and excite thoughts of suicide. A doctor prescribe those drugs might advice that you remove the guns from your home for a period of time or look for alternative treatments.
But this is not a question which should now become routine because that suits the current regime's political agenda.
Occasionally when we visit the pediatrician we fill out a form on our daughter's current condition. Early on, I noticed a question on guns in the house that I left blank. The doctor noted that I had apparently forgotten to answer that one. I said "It's no concern of yours." She said it was recommended that thy ask this of parents, to which I replied, "Then let me clarify my response: It's NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!"
She got the message and has not mentioned since when I leave that blank.
So are doctors going to become de facto agents for the government now in gathering what should remain private information? What would the response be if I facetiously said "Hell yeah! I've got a 6 year old and keep loaded guns in every corner and under every pillow in the house! I've got 25,000 rounds of ammo in her room, a dozen AR-15s which she dresses up like Barbies, and my kid plays with hi-cap mags like others play with Legos! I feed her black powder with her oatmeal!"
How long before CPS would be knocking at my door?
Wouldn't you care more about the safety of your daughter than your rights as a gun owner?
And I'll bet very few doctors do ask patients about guns when they prescribe anti-depressants, despite the fact that as you note most anti-depressants list increased risk of suicide as a possible side-effect. Otherwise there wouldn't be something like 18,000 suicides from firearms every year. A LOT of those individuals had to have been on anti-depressants.
I thought those were just guidelines. How can anyone control what a doctor says in the privacy of the examination room?
Ask the NRA. It fostered a law stating what doctors could not ask.
Quote:
In June, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law barring Florida doctors from routinely asking patients if they own a gun. The law also authorizes patients to report doctors for “unnecessarily harassing†them about gun ownership and makes it illegal to routinely document firearm ownership information in a patient’s medical record. Other state legislatures have considered similar proposals, but Florida is the first to enact such a law.
The law provides an exemption if the question is “relevant to the patient’s medical care or safety,†though it doesn’t specify what would qualify as relevant. Penalties for violating the law include disciplinary action by the Florida Board of Medicine, which could include citations, fines and “remedial education.â€
The measure was introduced in the state Legislature after a pediatrician in Central Florida dismissed a mother from his practice when she angrily refused to answer a routine question about whether she kept a gun in her house. The doctor, Chris Okonkwo, said at the time that he asked so he could offer appropriate safety advice, just as he customarily asks parents if they have a swimming pool and teenagers if they use their cellphones when they drive. He said that he dismissed the mother because he felt they could not establish a trusting doctor-patient relationship.
Gun safety in a home with children is VERY important.
And we practice proper gun safety at all times in our home. My vision of gun safety may not be yours. I keep at least two loaded and accessible (by me and my wife, not our child) at all times. The nonsense that arms should be kept unload and locked away, and ammunition shoud be kept separate does not serve the purpose for which I keep selected pieces available - defense of my home and family. A few weeks ago we had an attempted break in. My loaded gun was in my hand in seconds and my wife and daughter were upstairs while I placed myself, armed, between them and the threat.
Saying "you hide while I go unlock and load the gun" would have taken more time than I had at that moment.
It's because I have a child that I keep my guns such. The majority are kept under lock and key at all times.
Who is a doctor to ask anyone anything of a personal nature outside of a medical question? It is none of their business and I will tell them as much..
That's fine. Just don't try to curtail a doctor's constitutional rights by telling him or her what a doctor cannot ask.
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