Dear Dr. Rosen…

I recently read your letter to the editor of the Greensboro News and Record.  In it you claim that since “physicians’ advice to patients routinely includes urging safe sex to protect against sexually transmitted diseases; using seat belts and child car seats; urging smokers to quit; and providing vaccines against flu and pneumonia,” you should be able to give your patients advice on firearms safety – advice I’m not sure you’re qualified to give.

So I tell ya what…

Why don’t you provide documentation of your qualifications to dispense firearms advice — and please include any hard copy certificates, proof of knowledge about the mechanics of firearms, your training as a safety expert in the field, etc. — and I’ll think about allowing you to dispense said advice to my family.

If you don’t have said training, I would propose you increase your malpractice insurance coverage to include advice you’re not even remotely qualified to give based on the following batch of stupid, “Inquiring if there are guns in the home, and whether they are locked, kept separate from ammunition and out of reach of children is basic.

a) It’s none of your business.

b) Teaching gun safety to children appropriately and keeping an eye on them if there are guns in the house is basic.

c) Will you pay for the medical costs of the rape or assault victim after a confrontation with an armed thug, who took advantage of the precious seconds his victim took to fumble with the gun lock, retrieve the ammunition, thanks to your advice?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Now, I’m not a big fan of legislating silence. I wouldn’t be thrilled with a North Carolina legislative proposal that would restrict doctors’ ability to discuss guns in the home. Except, from what I’m seeing, that’s not what the bill does.

Any written questionnaire or other written form a health care provider asks a patient or the patient’s  parent,  guardian,  or  custodian to  complete that  contains  any  question  regarding  the patient’s lawful  ownership,  possession,  handling,  storage,  maintenance  of, or  other  conduct involving firearms and ammunition shall clearly and conspicuously contain or have attached to it a notice that the patient is not required to answer any question related to those matters. The notice  shall  be  located  or  provided  in  a  manner that  is  clearly  visible  to  the  patient prior  to completion of any questionnaire or other written form containing a question about firearms and ammunition as provided in this section.

It merely makes sure that the patient understands he or she is under no obligation to answer your questions or bow to your paranoia.

I’m pretty sure it will also allow the patient to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to keep you as a physician, since you feel yourself qualified to dispense medical advice without proper training in firearms or their safe handling.

Heck, I’d be finding myself a new doctor right quick.

Maybe that’s what you’re worried about?

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9 thoughts on “Dear Dr. Rosen…”

  1. Well, I am thinking that a requirement to add text is not really that different from a requirement of silence, or at least it is a “distinction without a difference”.

    But either way, doctors are (through licensing) creatures of the state, so I suppose the state may order them to do as it pleases.

    Anyway, I enjoyed your main point, about competence. Good to rattle their cages now and then.

    1. Don’t think of it as a “requirement to add text”.

      Think of it as a disclaimer: “Information on personally-owned firearms is collected on a voluntary basis only; disclosure is not required in order to receive services from [health care provider]. [Health care provider] is not a firearms safety expert, so any such advice is provided as-is, and no warranty or liability should be implied.”

  2. Questions about gun ownership, etc. are no different than any other, no matter who asks them. The person being asked must decide for themselves whether they wish to answer, whether or not it is in their best interest to answer, and if they want further contact or relationship with the one doing the asking.

    Gun questions are not separate from any other aspect of self ownership. The false “authority” of doctors is no different than that of any other creature of government. That’s what folks really need to think about.

  3. I recently filled out a new patient form. One of the questions was, “Do you keep loaded guns in your home?” I considered not answering or saying, “None of your business,” but instead I wrote, “Of course. Don’t you?”

    When my former doctor asked, in person, about guns, I explained to her Jeff Cooper’s four rules of gun safety.”

  4. Form to present to a doctor asking about guns.
    http://www.2asisters.org/PhysicianAffidavit.pdf

    For Physician
    Initial one, as appropriate:
    ______I represent that I have reviewed
    applicable scientific literature pertaining to
    defensive gun use, safety, storage, and
    beneficial results of private firearms
    ownership. I further represent that I have
    reviewed all other home safety issues with the
    Patient, including those relating to drains,
    disposals, compactors, doors, driveway safety,
    pool safety, pool fence codes and special locks
    for pool gates, auto safety, gas, broken glass,
    stored cleaning chemicals, buckets, toilets,
    sharp objects, garden tools, home tools, power
    tools, lawnmowers, lawn chemicals, scissors,
    needles, forks, knives, etc.
    I also acknowledge that by receiving this
    document. I have been made aware that, in his
    inaugural address before the American
    Medical Association on June 20, 2001, new
    president Richard Corlin, MD, admitted
    “What we don’t know about violence and guns
    is literally killing us . . . researchers do not
    have the data to tell how kids get guns, if
    trigger locks work, what the warning signs of
    violence in schools and at the workplace are,
    and other critical questions due to lack of
    research funding.” (UPI).
    In spite of this admission, I represent that I
    have sufficient data and expertise to provide
    expert and clinically sound advice to patients
    regarding firearms in the home.
    or
    ___ I am knowingly engaging in
    Home/Firearms Safety Counseling without
    certification, license or formal training in Risk
    Management, and; I have not reviewed
    applicable scientific literature pertaining to
    defensive gun use, safety, storage, and
    beneficial results of private firearms
    ownership.

  5. My doctor owns more guns than I do!

    If you don’t like the political agenda of anyone you choose to give your business to: I say; vote with your feet!

  6. You may also want to the doc if accidental overdosing of medications kills more people, if ‘medication errors’ in hospitals kills more people.

    “Prescription medication from your physician or hospital may be harmful to your health”.

    But what do facts have to do the left’s tyrannical dreams?

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