Pediatrician visit and gun question

[JWG223]

LACamper, I believe this is specific to your daughters Peds. While they are not prohibited from asking, it's not required, yet.

There are still some in the medical field that use common sense instead of following like a sheep.

The real issue is any questions asked when your child is not in your presence, school etc. My little one knows not to share or volunteer certain information to those "well meaning teachers, etc..

Firearm ownership/anything relating to a firearm is not on my documentation, although I don't deal with pediatrics. Nor have I ever seen it in our ER documentation before they get to our ICU/Stepdown units.

 

[JNieman]

Firearm ownership/anything relating to a firearm is not on my documentation, although I don't deal with pediatrics. Nor have I ever seen it in our ER documentation before they get to our ICU/Stepdown units.

Then you're as relevant as I am as a CAD geek with no mention of this on his software manuals.

This has always been a pediatric-specific thing.

 

[nola_]

Firearm ownership/anything relating to a firearm is not on my documentation, although I don't deal with pediatrics. Nor have I ever seen it in our ER documentation before they get to our ICU/Stepdown units.

Same for me so far to date.

 

[pulpsmack]

it was one of Obama's executive orders after Sandy Hook.

"16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/01/16/read-full-list-of-23-gun-violence-reduction-executive-actions/#ixzz2cSwrMHIC"

This is the point. Technically this is a "thread that should not be" or one on thin ice based on its origins above, but I'll play along.

Obviously it's not the HCPs who are responsible for this. This is a executive order the POTUS issued to make it appear as if he was doing something affirmative to address the "crisis" while advancing the (same old BS) gun ban that a "certain side" of the political aisle has been trying to advance since the 1990s. Regardless, it is intrusive and unnecessary. The educational aspect some are claiming is complete and total BS. If this were the case, It would be easy enough for the US gov. to subsidize or create a free educational class for the local communities for families and children, which could be partially funded by fines collected from firearms misuse and sold gun seizures (something they are unwilling to do). The reality however, is that without any such educational anchorage, this is a tool of harassment more than anything.

Doctors from a communal standpoint are a terrible source for firearms safety. There are those who spend more in a month on firearms than some of us could imagine in a lifetime and then there is a larger pool who knows next to nothing about their safekeeping and operation. What people are forgetting is that medical records can be subpoenaed and now you have a permanent record of this answered question on file for the criminal and/or civil case, and I am quite positive that IF THERE WAS ANYTHING behind the XO other than feel-good posturing, this would have more to do with the motive than education or medical awareness of a public health issue.

Think about all the "public health hazards" in the household for children that far-exceed the dangers of firearms that aren't even considered: unsecured household chemicals & agents, gasoline dispensers, wall-outlet socket covers and grounded outlets, exotic and domestic pets, etc. We certainly have some creative people on board who can carve some plausibility and/or justification for having the questionnaire item on board after the fact, but the truth is that believing anything other than a political motive is plain dishonest.

 

[JWG223]

Then you're as relevant as I am as a CAD geek with no mention of this on his software manuals.

This has always been a pediatric-specific thing.

I believe my PCP actually asked me this in his office, once. I won't swear to it, though. It was a formal question. It's bleeding over.

 

[TomTerrific]

That's the big key right there.

The AMA and other medical associations report on common risks and dangers that actually result in the death of children of statistical significance. Guns and pools kill enough kids to warrant attention. That's not to say they're bad things, just that those great things coupled with stupid parents... are bad things, and so the medical community sees fit to warn/educate parents in the helps of benefiting children's lives and health. I don't see much problem with it, really.

I do have a problem with a few statements/releases the head-level AMA has made that /is/ anti-gun, though. But the feet-on-the-ground doctors... I don't think that's ever a problem. There's a metric poop load of general practice doctors and pediatricians and if you don't like one, or he says something you don't like, you're free to find one you do like. I didn't like my kid's first pediatrician, for unrelated reasons, and found one I do like. He's never asked me about guns. I figure any doc in Lafayette shouldn't even bother. He'd only get one "no" out of 100, and it'd be safe to assume he's bluffing, or if it's a she, she just don't know her boyfriend/husband keeps one in his dresser.


Edit: looks like rtr_rtr made the point with better words.

Well said.

I think you will find that physicians that don't like people become public health specialists and go around telling people what is good for them.

 

[cajun_64]

Well said.

I think you will find that physicians that don't like people become public health specialists and go around telling people what is good for them.

 

[themcfarland]

I personally have to deal with a lot of doctors due to the wife.. Now not having kids it changes the scope of the thread some, But we too, have had that asked and I always answer its none of their business.

But It also opened up a conversation about records with one or two of the doctors ( we usually see doctors over Nurses due to her complexity of issues) and most have said that it is a statistic that is just now becoming a topic of conversation. The number of households reporting guns is up , but so is the numbers of folks being asked.
Now I am not one to believe there isnt something else into it but I also wonder how the stats will fall in a few years, Maybe we will determine the number of injuries per number of guns owned, May actually be LESS, if the numbers were collected accurately..

 

[CUJOHUNTER]

My son is 5 and has been in the LSU system since he was born on 9/13/07. Everytime we go for a doc appt we're always asked that same question. I always answer with a question........"yes...why?" Still get no answers from them

 

[trout25red]

My son is 5 and has been in the LSU system since he was born on 9/13/07. Everytime we go for a doc appt we're always asked that same question. I always answer with a question........"yes...why?" Still get no answers from them

That just made me think of a new answer besides "none of your business." Answer the question with the question "why?" If they can't give you a good reason, tell them that they are not qualified to be asking since they don't know why they are asking.