Interesting visit to the Doctor today

[KansasPaul]

I've been struggling with sciatica the past few weeks and went to the doctor today for a visit. I guess that I'm fortunate that I live in a rural community and my primary physician is an older fishing/hunting/outdoors guy. When his nurse was asking details about my condition she said "I won't ask you if you're depressed because of your condition.... if I mark that in the computer, with Obamacare coming I'm afraid that if I mark anyone's file that they are depressed, 'they' will come to take our guns away". "So, I just won't ask you that question". With that she smiled at my wife and I and left the room.

I just found it interesting that a 50-something year old nurse felt that she couldn't "mark" certain questions in a patient's file for fear that the information could later be used to restrict firearm ownership. By the way, she has no idea whether I own firearms or not. The second thing that I struck me was the look on my wife's face as the nurses comments sunk in. My wife said "I never connected the dots before - how did I miss this?"

Blessings

Paul

 

[somerandomguy]

I've been struggling with sciatica the past few weeks and went to the doctor today for a visit. I guess that I'm fortunate that I live in a rural community and my primary physician is an older fishing/hunting/outdoors guy. When his nurse was asking details about my condition she said "I won't ask you if you're depressed because of your condition.... if I mark that in the computer, with Obamacare coming I'm afraid that if I mark anyone's file that they are depressed, 'they' will come to take our guns away". "So, I just won't ask you that question". With that she smiled at my wife and I and left the room.

I just found it interesting that a 50-something year old nurse felt that she couldn't "mark" certain questions in a patient's file for fear that the information could later be used to restrict firearm ownership. By the way, she has no idea whether I own firearms or not. The second thing that I struck me was the look on my wife's face as the nurses comments sunk in. My wife said "I never connected the dots before - how did I miss this?"

Blessings

Paul

Your doctor sounds like a great doctor! You sir, are very lucky.

 

[greenmtnguy]

I thought that you were going to say that the nurse told you to not carry your concealed weapon between 6 o clock and 3 oclock and your sciatica symptoms would go away!

 

[KansasPaul]

HA HA!

Actually, I've switched my carry piece from a S&W 637 to a Kel Tec P3AT - smaller, lighter and...... well, uglier. But hey, it works, at least for the time being.

Paul

 

[Hardtarget]

You have a keeper in the doctor.

My doctor and I have talked shooting on occasion. I don't know how much of an active shooter he is. We'll see how this question answer thing goes next three or four visits.

Mark

 

[bobinoregon]

I went to a local hospital last tuesday to get a minor operation on my shoulder. During the pre-op questions like what are you allergic to and all that usual kind of stuff was "do you have any mental health issues" and "do you have a gun". I asked what that was all about and the answer was that they are standard questions. I don't go to the doctor much but it seemed odd to me.

 

[Drail]

Please do something nice for that nurse. She gets it.

 

[hipoint]

I've worked in hospitals for nearly 20 years and this is somewhat true. Medical records can and will be used against you without your consent or knowledge. Mostly by other medical care institutions, but also when you sign papers for insurance they're going to scour for "pre existing conditions" before they make a big payout on a claim... The whole gun control thing is debatable, but the other things are fact. Better safe than sorry.

As said, I've worked in hospitals for a long time, mostly in the emergency room settings but some private care as well, I stay away from doctors and only give them precisely the information that I feel they need, nothing more. I'm not advocating sacrificing your health, I might as well be a doctor myself so I know how to diagnose myself for almost anything that doesn't require lab work, but if you don't need to tell something, don't. It will be written down somewhere, you can count on it.