Family Doctor said guns should be locked up or they can hurt people

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I think it depends on the doctor's tonality.

Doctors are trained to evaluate symptoms, then make a diagnosis.

OBESITY + SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE = HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, STROKE, TYPE II DIABETES


KIDS + UNLOCKED GUNS = DEAD KIDS

The doctor has seen the results in th ER.

If tonality is more political, that's wrong.
 
I recently had to change Docs.

I chose a new one less than a mile from my house. I thought..."GREAT!" The less driving the better.

When I filled out the "New Patient Package", the last question read:

DO YOU OWN HANDGUNS OR RIFLES?

IF YES, HOW MANY?

I took the package up to the desk and informed them I would not be signing up as a new patient, and informed them since my package included confidential information, I would be taking it with me.

I left them with confused looks, and found another Doc who has copies of AMERICAN RIFLEMAN, and AMERICAN HUNTER in HER waiting room. She's the best!

Too bad her office is in Chandler and I live in Mesa!
 
Don't go painting with too wide a brush

As a board certified family physician, I have to agree with MillCreek and Reload4me. There certainly is a push is the WHO and some of larger medical societies against "handgun violence". Many of these organizations are decidedly left leaning and tend to push some of those causes as well.

The other reality is, that it is my job and obligation to discuss any health or safety issue with my patients if it is a issue in regards to their healthcare. I have had gun safety talks with patients who have been injured by a accidental discharge and I am now caring for that gunshot wound. But mostly I have talks regarding hunting, shooting or some other outdoor activity!

For those who posted about doctors killing so many every year, please come back to this planet. If we are so bad, you are welcome to go get your healthcare down in central america. Remind me the next time that I am taking care of you at 3 a.m. in the emergency room how awful and incompetent I am so I can forget about it and go back home to bed? It will make my life a whole lot easier to just let you die on your own and not kill you myself :barf:
 
Oh yes, and by the way, I am lobbying for the passage of a concealed carry law here in Nebraska with our local state senator, that way I can carry my Kimber Eclipse or Kahr PM9! ;)
 
My doctor's politics are none of my business, and my politics aren't any of his. Far too many things are being considered healthcare issues that we used to just write off as individual choices.

I'd hope that my doc, who I like a lot, would have the good sense to realize when he's being asked to push a political agenda, whether he agrees with it or not, and be smart enough to realize that it will not endear him to at least some of his patients.

Should he fail to realize that, my answer is that my personal property is none of his business unless he can demonstrate a direct link between it and the reason I'm sitting on the table in front of him today. If I show up with a gunshot wound, some questions about how I got it are definately in order. If I show up for my yearly physical, then he's out of bounds asking about guns, the number of bathrooms in the house or how many cars I own.

And should he fail to realize that, there's always the "Physicians" heading in the yellow pages.
 
I guess I didn't take the question seriously when my doc asked me the same thing at my last annual.

She asked if I had guns? I said, "Yes".
She asked how many? I said, "I can't count that high."
She asked if they were all locked up? I said, "No, they're buried in strategic locations."
She paused a moment, then said, "You're feeding me a line, aren't you?"
Then she laughed and wrote it up just as I said it. We both can't wait for the insurance company to read it.
 
wow i didnt realize this was going on, very weird.
guy wh oposted link on first page, that is great=

It is best to answer this queation with a question.

"Doctor, are you familiar with the term Boundary Violation?

We went over this about a year ago.

Here is a link for you.

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_A...y_violation.htm

The main reason I can see for not answering this question is that it may disqualify you for insurance in the future.
Click to expand...

totally weird, and then the doc is keeping records of this? i dont like it.
 
no , form the link, the question isnt a violation, but the follow up could be especially if there is any hint of anti sentiment

and hey guns and labs! YAHOOOOOOOOO!!
more Berkeley people!!!! there are at least three of us now, plus my friends who are on our team, but not on net much.
 
Nancy had a good idea when she said "just say no". Any GP that asked a question like that of me or my wife would get "no" as an answer. The only questions any doctor should be asking should be health related.
 
Brad instead of providing the doctor with a form that is simply going to get you thrown out of the office anyway, why not just explain to him that you are going to find another physician because of questions like that?

You will come across as more rational, but maybe that doesnt matter to you.
 
I've used the form twice, simply handing them the form after they asked and stating very calmly and courteously that I'd be happy to answer their question as soon as they filled it out. Both times they got the point and dropped the issue.

Brad
 
At my practice group, we have about 600,000 patient visits per year. We have had a couple of people produce this form over the years. After the visit is over, I telephone the patient, explain to them that a successful therapeutic relationship is based upon trust on both sides, that the patient clearly doesn't feel that the doctor can be trusted to exercise his/her clinical judgment in providing healthcare to the patient, and that by mentioning malpractice at the first visit, the doctor no longer trusts the patient. Accordingly, we cannot have a successful provider-patient relationship, and it would be unfair to both the patient and provider to continue under these terms. I tell them that we are withdrawing care effective immediately, and they should find another provider as soon as possible. I then send them a letter to that effect.

I treat this the same way as the first-time patient who comes in demanding narcotics, or who makes an inappropriate clinical request, and when it is denied, starts talking about lawyers and lawsuits: we cannot help you and you need to go elsewhere. Suffice it to say that our practice panels are full, we can pick and choose whom we want to see and life is too short to deal with these patients.

Providers are free to see whomever they want, as long as they are not discriminating on legally-protected grounds, and patients are likewise free to see whomever they want.
 
I have a very good doctor that I trust totally. She asked this question in a routine physical of my children. I stated that officially I don't discuss my firearms for reasons of personal home security. She understood and put nothing in the records. She already knew I have weapons, and even so, mentioned keeping them locked. She satisfied her professional conscience and I satisfied mine. There is no reason, for reasonable people to get so worked up over this. Any doctor who would sever a relationship with a patient over this, is a doctor I am better off without.

On a side note, I read in this mornings paper of a local murder suicide. Husband killed wif by stabbing repeatedly with a kitchen knife and finishing by crushing her skull with a rolling pin. He then took a fatal dose of antidepressents and pain killers.

Notice that no guns were involved. I think we're worrying about locking up the wrong component of violence.
 
I can't remember my doctor ever asking me about guns, but my dentist does, ever since I ran into him at a gun show. :)
 
At my practice group, we have about 600,000 patient visits per year. We have had a couple of people produce this form over the years. After the visit is over, I telephone the patient, explain to them that a successful therapeutic relationship is based upon trust on both sides, that the patient clearly doesn't feel that the doctor can be trusted to exercise his/her clinical judgment in providing healthcare to the patient, and that by mentioning malpractice at the first visit, the doctor no longer trusts the patient. Accordingly, we cannot have a successful provider-patient relationship, and it would be unfair to both the patient and provider to continue under these terms. I tell them that we are withdrawing care effective immediately, and they should find another provider as soon as possible. I then send them a letter to that effect.
Click to expand...


I think you are handling that problem appropriately. Thats the same thing I would do if I was ever offered that form.
 
Millcreek: As you profess to be so deeply concerned with patient relationships,

why do you intrude beyond the legitimate scope of same by asking questions about matters which don't concern you?

And are you equally zealous in your Mission to Save The Children to make the aforementioned inquiries regarding pools, buckets and household chemicals? There is nothing in your post which suggests that you do.

If not, why not? :scrutiny:
 
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Here in the PRNY

so few people here have guns that the doctors don't bother to ask. I can just imagine my sisters reaction to "Do you have any guns? " AAAHHH GUNS ARE EEVILLL! I feel faint! " (She's a mega-liberal) :banghead:
 
MillCreek and Lone_Gunman,

You don't seem mind asking someone if they have a gun in their home during the course of a medical examination yet you have a problem with the patient exercising some due diligence and verifying a physician's background and liabilities as a firearms safety couselor. So.. the question of firearms is introduced by the physician during a medical examination, yet the patient doesn't have the right to verify the physician's credentials in that particular field and should expect to be summarily released from your care if they attempt to do so?

Seems a bit hypocritcal to me, but maybe I am missing something. Please clarify for me.

Brad
 
MillCreek,

Your group will see 600,000 patients per year? How many physicians are in your group?

That works out to 1643 patients per day, if your group works 365 days per year. I've been in the medical field for almost 30 years and have never seen that kind of volumn.

Best/stay safe
 
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