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Doctors Have Right to Talk to Patients About Firearm Dangers, Court Rules

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Amiga, Feb 17, 2017.

  1. Amiga

    Amiga I get vaunted sacred revelations from social media
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    Such a ridiculous law. It barred physicians from asking patients about ownership of guns and ammunition. As if asking is stepping on their 2nd amendment right. Does the NRA, who pushed this law in 2011, think that gun owners are snowflakes and can't think for themselves, requiring such protection?

    The court actually upheld the law initially with 3 judges, and now have ruled against it with a wider panel of judges.


    Florida law had barred physicians from asking patients questions concerning ownership of guns, ammunition save under particular circumstances

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/doctor...rearm-dangers-court-rules-1487285509?mod=e2tw

    The so-called Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act, pushed by the National Rifle Association and passed by state lawmakers in 2011, directs physicians to avoid inquiring into their patients’ ownership of firearms unless the discussion is relevant to medical care.

    “[T]here was no evidence whatsoever before the Florida Legislature that any doctors or medical professionals have taken away patients’ firearms or otherwise infringed on patients’ Second Amendment rights,” wrote Judge Jordan.

    “This decision makes clear that the First Amendment does not allow the government to interfere with a doctor providing her best medical advice to her patient,” Doug Hallward-Driemeier, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.


     
  2. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    If the law says "unless the discussion is relevant to medical care", how is it interfering with them giving the best medical advice to the patient?
     
  3. bobrek

    bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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    The law that was overturned allowed that, but what the doctors wanted was top be allowed to ask more general questions to make sure the patient has a secure home environment for kids. I was unable to read the article cited, but here is another and some of the relevant (IMO) paragraphs:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-about-gun-ownership/?utm_term=.f17e65b9d82d


    Several large professional medical groups have said it is within the bounds of ethical medical care for doctors to ask about gun safety at home, in the way a physician might ask parents of small children if they have a backyard pool. A May 2016 review, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, noted that the majority of physicians believe that “they have the right to counsel patients about firearms.”

    “Firearm violence is an important health problem, and most physicians agree that they should help prevent that violence,” Garen J. Wintemute, a co-author of the paper and a public health expert at the University of California Davis, told The Washington Post in May.

    The American Medical Association, for instance, “encourages its members to inquire as to the presence of household firearms as a part of childproofing the home and to educate patients to the dangers of firearms to children,” as Jordan noted. Likewise, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2012 policy on gun safety cites a 2008 trial, which indicated that physician counsel plus distributing gun locks led to an increase in safe firearm storage.
     
  4. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    It's a loophole as big as "for the welfare of the mother." I'd think they could continue doing what they do, and any time the law came up, they'd just say "it's for the sake of my patient's medical care." But the law would still be ridiculous. I thought Republicans wanted to reduce regulations on businesses.
     
  5. LosPollosHermanos

    LosPollosHermanos Houston only fan
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    My job is to do best by my patients, this would be stupid.
     
  6. sugrlndkid

    sugrlndkid Member

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    Think the biggest reason why a physician would ask about firearms is if they believe the patient may harm themselves or those around them...Otherwise this convo about guns would never even come up...
     
  7. Bobbythegreat

    Bobbythegreat Member
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    So long as you don't have to answer those questions, I don't see a problem with it. Is "go **** yourself" an acceptable answer? I don't have a problem with any question that isn't an acceptable answer to.
     
  8. Exiled

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    It's the other way around ,it would be problematic to Physicians if ADEs protocol questioned guns ownership before giving prescription to any sedatives, narcotics, antipsychotics, and chemotherapeutic agents to patients
     
  9. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Contributing Member
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    You've never had to answer any question a physician asks.

    But asking about guns should come up in cases of homicidal/suicidal ideation (e.g. do you have access to a gun, would you use that gun to harm your self or others), as well as during well-child visits (e.g. are your guns secure, make sure billy doesn't accidentally shoot himself).
     
  10. Bobbythegreat

    Bobbythegreat Member
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    Well that's kind of what I was saying. I don't think anyone should be prevented from asking you any question so long as you don't have to answer it if you don't want to. Now if there is some kind of punishment for not answering, that would change things, but I don't think that's how it is.

    Personally I wouldn't tell them if I owned any guns because it's not any of their business but I don't mind them asking.
     
  11. Exiled

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    [Do you have guns,! Knifes ! Sharp objects , electronic device nearby your bath tubs,chop saw! Did you ever think of smoking nearby a gas stations! or drinking detergent!, jumping from a moving car, or you wondered how human flush taste like !so do you have other crazy ideas like that! ] These question/interrogation usually asked while a person water board or in max. Security prison facility but not by a typical Physician to a normal patient , keep dangerous/hazard materials out of reach should be enough
     

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