Now I admit, as a pediatrician, I probably don’t ask about guns in the house and how they are stored as much as I should. There’s a lot that gets on that anticipatory guidance docket and gun safety doesn’t typically make into my top list. But making it felony for me to do my job if I lived in an area in which unsafe gun storage was more common? WTF? The NRA wants to talk about RIGHTS and then they do this?
Yep their fear about government getting between them and their doctor was a real concern. Of course when the Republicans pass a law that does exactly that it’s A.OK.
I see they had the sense to realize that a psychiatrist had a legitimate interest in knowing whether or not a suicidal patient had access to a gun in the home. Seems logical that a pediatrician should also be able to discuss safety in the home with a parent.
You’ve been a member far too long to start a thread like this without checking your own facts.
Such as that this legislation was started because a pediatrition told a mother to find another doctor when she refused to answer questions about guns in her home.
And that another man was told by his doctor to get rid of his gun when he stated he had one in his home.
How about that the final version of the bill has no provision for fines whatsoever, much less 5 million.
Hey here’s a fucking idea, get a new doctor if you don’t like the one you have. I had a doctor lecture me on Vitamin D and now I have a new one. It’s not a “political issue”; that would be if a doctor refused to treat you if you had a different opinion on gun control.
I love how conservatives support freedom as long as it’s freedom to agree with them.
They are passing a law limiting what a doctor can say to their patients, that’s fucking fascist. If people don’t like what their doctor has to say they can find another.
And I might agree, but then again, Doctors also embedded themselves halfway intot he legal system (through licensing). That obligates them to the state.
Then again, I have a low opinion of doctors in general.
So it is OK for pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control/Plan B/anti-bleeding medications if they have an objection to it, but if a pediatrician tells someone to get another doctor due to their beliefs, we need to charge them with a crime? Got it.
That is fucking stupid. Look, I think people should be able to own guns. Any guns. I do think they need to be regulated, but I am pretty easy on this topic. That said, if a doctor feels that a home is unsafe for his patient, he should be free to advise the parents on this issue. If said doctor gets frustrated because the parents tell him to fuck off or ignore the advice, the doctor should be free to tell them to find another doctor.
This case is not analogous to the pharmacists. To be so, the pediatricians would refuse to treat a child with a gunshot wound and would tell them to go somewhere else.
Pharmacists have also embedded themselves halfway into the legal system through licensing also, but I bet you have no problem letting them withhold their services when doing so matches your parochial world view, yes?
Huh? What is your point even supposed to be, here? Do you think that licensure by the state somehow grants the physician governmental authority? Licensure is done on behalf of the people in order to help protect the people of the state from harm. If people were somehow compelled legally to do what their physicians tell them to, we’d be a very fit country.
Heard about this on NPR this morning while out running errands, and I knew there would be thread here. This is another example of “there oughta be a law…” gone wrong. If you don’t want your doctor to ask about guns, tell him or her it’s none of his [fucking] business. If the doctor doesn’t want to treat you, then you’re better off with a more sympathetic doctor anyway. The last thing I want is to force a doctor to treat me who doesn’t want to treat me.
I heard it this morning too. I was at work and listening through my earbuds while I walked around. I practically shouted in rage when I heard people were bringing it up as a Second Amendment issue: “You STUPID, GOD-DAMNED MOTHERFUCKERS! A pediatrician is not the government and has no means of infringing on your right to bear arms!”
And what the FUCK is the deal with the NRA having a problem with pediatricians expressing an interest in gun safety. Isn’t gun safety supposed to be the TRUE reason for their existence??!!???
Haven’t you noticed that the right wingers have basically started dropping all pretenses as to what they claim to be about and what they’re actually trying to accomplish?
We have three children (13, 12, and 8 years old). I have always had guns strewn all over the house. Right now there are two rifles next to the front door, three next to the dresser in the bedroom, and one on the landing in the staircase. Handguns are sitting on shelves in the bedroom closet. None are loaded, in case you’re wondering.
If a pediatrician asked about guns, I would simply tell him/her it was none of their fucking business.
I am curious though. Why do you think it is none of your child’s doctor’s business to ask about risk factors in the house? Do you feel your child’s doctor is out of line to ask about whether there are presciption medicines are in the house and how they are stored and making sure that you have the number for Poison Control? Is the doctor out of line for engaging in a discussion about how teens abuse parents prescription meds sometimes and that storing them and disposing of them safely is advised? Do you feel your child’s doctor is out of line for advising that your child is kept in a car seat for longer than you may think is needed? Is a doctor who asks the parent of a teen about alcohol in a house and how it is stored and monitored and who informs a parent of the risks associated with teen binge drinking also out of line? Am I out of line for making a big deal over bike helmets? For trying to be proactive in preventing childhood obesity?
If the answer is “no” to any of those things, then why is your child’s doctor wanting to ask about guns different?