Doctor asks-guns in the house?

[RobMoore]

Obviously many of the recent posters have not read the entire thread.

Not when it is 5 pages, and some folks get long winded. Care to summarize? Otherwise I'll read the first and last page to get the gist of things.

I think I would skip the gun question, along with a couple others. I would also never send a kid into a doctor's office alone. When I was a child, I never went in for a checkup or other without a parent with me. It isn't just about suspicion of the doctor. The parents should be present to ask questions and be informed.

 

[testosterone]

Answer: NO

Information on a need-to-know basis.

It's like asking if you exercise your right to free speech in your own home. Do not, under any circumstances, answer a loaded question in a way that could conceivably be used against you later. Yeah, there might be some interesting reason they WANT to know... but they don't NEED to know.

Whether they are interested in studies, statistics, liabilities... whatever... none of these things are "need to know" about your guns.

After running yourelf through all the possible "need to know" reasons that they might ask this question, and disqualifying them, it will become obvious that there is an alterior motive. Whether it is motivated by the physician, HMO, the insurance companies, the government, anti-gun organizations... we don't know. All we know is that it just don't jive.

Do you exercise your 2nd Amendment rights? None of my business. (But I hope you do.)

lying on medical forms can cause other issues though.

God forbid you get into a medical situation where the insurance company starts looking for a reason to dump you, the very first thing they look at is every intake form you ever filled out, and if they find a discrepancy that is grounds for dropping you.

 

[Ranb]

When I hired in to a shipyard, I told them that I reload ammo and cast bullets at home. I was put on the lead program which meant they do a blood draw for lead level in my blood and organs every six months. The OSHA limit is 30 ppb, the shipyard limit is 20 ppb, I entered the program with 17 ppb. I dipped down to 7 ppb for a year or two then back up to 15 ppb. The medics were concerned so they called me in and after chatting recommended that I cast outdoors and keep the brass tumbler outside also. It is a pain, but I did it. They said this would be better than a fan in the doorway to the workshop or using a face filter.

I suspect that the main reason I am in the shipyard lead program is so that if I make a claim of injury associated with lead at work, then the shipyard can point to my lead exposure at home and deny my claim. But I would rather know my lead level and I am not exposed to lead much as part of my work anyway.

Ranb

 

[MinnMooney]

from Claude Clay (post 13) :

but the most dangerous two things in the house and
the most destructive, are the kids.

I about choked !!! Very funny and a great reply to that question on the "Health Survey".

 

[Guns and more]

Why would your DOCTOR be interested in statistical information that was unrelated to your health?

So that he can enter it in a computer, and if your child ever bumps his head, the government will have you declared an unfit parent, and take your kids.
Now there, that was simple, wasn't it?

I recently had the flu and went to a "care center" and saw a nurse practitioner. She asked a hundred questions, including did I drink? How often? How many? What brand did I drink? Everything was entered in a computer. The paperwork to get in, included a research study that had nothing to do with being sick.
She appeared shocked that I would question her asking.

So I just lied.

 

[azyogi]

Before I answer that 'doc' couple of questions of my own;
A; How many people are killed [in america] by medical mistakes?
B; How many people are killed [in america] by guns?
Answers vary depending on who you ask but it's somewhere around A; 300,000 B; 32,000
No mathmatican here but does that mean I'm 10 times more likely to be killed by a 'medical mistake' than a gun?

 

[TCB in TN]

My Dr. asks about my guns all of the time, of course I have shot targets with her and her husband on numerous occasions, and she and her husband, both CC. So I think it might be a little different. LOL!

 

[scoutsabout]

I just don't understand why so many of you think this is a big deal.Tell the man you own guns. So what? There is nothing he can DO about it. Do you think he is gonna break into your house and steal them?

1. We think it's a big deal because the 2nd Amendment is contested by gun grabbers.

2. Right, there is probably nothing he can do about it... directly... but information is power and he is not the only one with access to that information. Maybe he'll steal my guns, maybe his secretary's boyfriend's brother-in-law will. Maybe the government will come and get them.

3. Do they need to know if you have dildos in your home? Hey, sexual activity is totally health related... but why would they need that information to provide health care?

4. As in the previous post, with a link to the liability document, physicians only need information that they can competantly use to serve our health needs. Most of us don't need gun counseling and, for those who do, a physician is not the person to do it anyway. So why do they ask, and what else can the information be used for?

5. We relegate many things to our private lives, into which no one has a right to pry. We conceal our identities, we conceal our credit card information, we conceal our firearms, etc. We conceal these things because they embody our indevidually guarenteed freedoms, and no one has a right to mess with them... let alone a NEED to mess with them to provide a relatively unrelated service. My physician can have my medical history, but he's not getting information that could jeopardize my rights. It's a lesser-of-two-evils kind of thing, and his treatment of my firearms-related health issues is a MUCH LESSER EVIL.

 

[Gungnir]

We conceal these things because they embody our indevidually guarenteed freedoms, and no one has a right to mess with them.

If we need to conceal our guaranteed freedoms, then they're not very guaranteed. If they were guaranteed you could walk around with a sign on your head and no one could do a thing, indeed you can, it's your first amendment right.

You do have a right to privacy, but maintaining privacy for fear of losing a guaranteed right means that there is something wrong. Either you don't feel comfortable discussing your exercise of that right, or, the right is not guaranteed at all, so it's a privilege.

If for whatever reason the information my Doc has goes to some government organization that then attempts to illegally disarm me, then they're criminals, and they have no right to do so. So I'll defend myself like I would any other criminal. Some things are worth dying for.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Not when it is 5 pages, and some folks get long winded. Care to summarize? Otherwise I'll read the first and last page to get the gist of things.

I think I would skip the gun question, along with a couple others. I would also never send a kid into a doctor's office alone. When I was a child, I never went in for a checkup or other without a parent with me. It isn't just about suspicion of the doctor. The parents should be present to ask questions and be informed.

Mostly it's the same thing being said over and over again:

You have your tinfoil hat responses. "The government is going to use it to take my guns."
Your smartass responses. "None of your @#$%^&* business."
Your courteous responses. "I prefer not to answer."
And also attempts by some, who seem to be knowledgable, trying to explain why they are asking the question.

Personally I've never been asked, but I agree with you and would leave it blank.

 

[Guns and more]

I just don't understand why so many of you think this is a big deal.Tell the man you own guns. So what? There is nothing he can DO about it. Do you think he is gonna break into your house and steal them?

If it's no big deal, then why does he ask? It's a big deal because it's entered into a computer, and at some future time some government bureaucrat is going to make a decision based of that information.

I agree with you and would leave it blank.

Leaving it blank is a de-facto, "Yes".
I prefer to lie. "Why no, only bad people have guns, doctor."
Do you think for one minute, the cops wouldn't lie to you?

 

[Erik M]

google "gun control health care". If you can throw a spark between those 2 brain cells you have, you will see why you dont need to inform your doctor that you own a gun.

 

[scoutsabout]

I agree with Gungnir, that we should be able to exercise our rights freely. However, our 2nd Amendment rights are being treated like "privileges" by our dear representatives in state and federal government.

Forget all the propoganda designed to convince Joe Public that guns aren't part of the future utopia we envision... ask yourself why you should have to purchase a license to exercise a constitutional right. All this hubbub isn't because we're afraid of them infringing on our 2nd Amendment rights... it's because THEY ALREADY ARE.

I don't think we should have to hide our guns, whisper about our range activities, or skulk around the streets... armed but in fear of the law. But, in the meantime, I whole heartedly believe that we shouldn't be helping them completely strip our 2nd Amendment rights away from us, as they clearly aim to do.

Once we have solidified our 2nd Amendment rights, as will hopefully be the ruling in cases like McDonald v. Chicago, then we should feel free to answer "YES" on medical forms without fear of consequence... but then the questions probably won't even be there anymore.

I still can't imagine a reasonable excuse for a physician to ask those gun questions as they are written.

Here's my tin foil hat: I have a healthy fear that criminality could become more unfettered than it already is.

My wife got spooked today. We're both glad she was packing.

 

[Oro]

Oh gosh, the tin foil hat crowd is out in force. Look, here's the deal:

There are questions on the form so the doctor can elicit simple information on you that pertains to your health so he/she can counsel you. Here's out it goes:

1) Do you smoke? If yes, the doctor says: Then STOP IT.
2) Do you have a history of heart disease in the family: If yes, then let's test you more...
3) Do you drink: If yes, then let's talk about how much and if it affects you...
4) Have you ever paid or received money for sex? If yes, well then let's run some extra tests...
5) Do you have guns in the house? If yes, then are they locked up so kids can't get them?

It's really that simple. It's for counseling purposes and to prevent accidents with children. It's so doctors no a little more about the unique risk or lifestyle profiles of patients so they can provide good advice to prevent disease or accidents. That's how it's taught in medical schools and how it appears in text books of patient interviews/exams. That's all. There's no recording of it, no computer entry, no government conspiracy.

This is how we were taught in medical school and that's all that it is for. There's no conspiracy, no cabal trying to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate (yes, I'm an X-files fan and I've always wanted to say that seriously in a conversation!).

Relax.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

This thread has ceased to be civil.