Friday, May 06, 2011

Doctors + guns = fish + bicycle

Or possibly screen door + submarine.
From "signaller222" in the comments at Kate's Small Dead Animals, a doctor speaks his surprisingly tiny mind.
San Francisco peds doc Ricky Y. Choi, MD, MPH asks the musical question, "Should pediatricians be punished for asking about guns in the home?"
Quoth the doc:

Florida's Governor Scott is on the verge of signing into law a bill that would penalize doctors for asking about guns in the home. The original bill shockingly included a $5 million fine and a five year prison sentence if a doctor asked about a patient's gun ownership, entered gun ownership information into a medical record, or refused to care for patients who declined to answer related questions. An unsatisfying compromise amendment between the NRA and the Florida chapter of the AMA limited the penalty to the possible revocation of a medical license and would allow questions about gun ownership and entry of that information into the medical record only if "medically necessary". 

Those Nazi BASTARDS!!!

Particularly bewildering to me were claims made by state legislators that gun safety was outside the scope of a pediatrician's practice. According to Marion Hammer, a past president of the NRA, "Families take their kids to pediatricians for medical care, not to talk about guns."

I would beg to differ.

Really? Pray, tell me more good doctor.

The scope of practice I am talking about we all can own. I have a responsibility to ask about, diagnose, educate, and treat obstacles to health. For those who see children in their practice, discussing topics such as swimming pool safety and smoke detectors are routine at regular check ups.

But let me take it a step further. I would argue that nutritious food, safe medications, air quality, domestic violence, affordable housing, access to health care, sex trafficking, cultural factors, schools, safe neighborhoods, voting, human rights, international trade agreements, and the state budget, to the extent they impact health of my patients and communities, are also in my scope of practice.

Not only do I feel an obligation to explore these issues, my patients expect it of me.

Well, aren't you the special one then.  Have you considered the possibility your patients expect it because you live in the most Lefty-liberal anti-gun city in the entire USA?
Personally, if a pediatrician asked me about my views on guns, voting and the state budget, I'd be backing out of the room as expeditiously as possible, never to return.  That's the answer to the question, really.  If you want some officious, holier than thou liberal for a doctor, that's up to you.  And anything he puts in your PERMANENT, SEARCHABLE medical record becomes your problem.  Forever.

Thirty years of anti-gun propaganda in the medical literature have created a whole cohort of little crusaders like this guy, who think everything in the world is their business. Legislating what a doctor can and cannot ask or put in his notes seems a bit much, but I do I think it would be excellent if the liberal nosy-Parker sons of bitches all found themselves out of business due to lack of trade.

The Phantom

3 comments:

WiFi Lunchbox guy said...

Speaking of guns, over on Small Dead Animals you mentioned your close encounter with gun control.

Beyond self-education, have you engaged any political advocacy, and has any of it worked?

The Phantom said...

Greetings WiFi. If by political advocacy you mean sending letters to politicians, yes I did and no it hasn't. The people who advocate for gun control do so either because they are True Believers or because they are pandering to same. Letters and visits to Liberal MPs are utterly wasted, to Conservatives you are preaching to the choir.

Bottom line, its a con job. You can't beat a con job by arguing facts with the con man.

What I did do that worked, waaaaaay back in like 1994, was I wrote a big monograph on all the medical literature, all the studies on gun control, the opinion pieces, the little info blurbs etc. I provided an analysis of the statistical methods used, the study designs, the choice of populations, lots of stuff.

Bottom line was that out of 100+ full-on research studies and a couple hundred other little blurbs, all but six (6) studies were complete bullshit, and four of those found against gun control as a method for reducing crime. Those four found either no reduction or an increase.

Now, when I say "complete bullshit" what I'm talking about is -overt lying-. The studies were designed to find a certain outcome, the samples were rigged, the statistics were bogus, in some cases they simply made shit up and published it.

The CDC got their budget cut for their part in publishing deliberately and blatantly false studies after the Republicans took over in the 1990's. Some tiny part of that effort was me sending my monograph to all kinds of doctors, politicians, the NRA, magazines, plus posting it on the web for anybody to read. I was one of -hundreds- of guys doing the same thing, plus millions of pissed off gun owners shaking the trees.

Net result, Bush got elected in 2000, Algore got BEAT, and no gun control is a dead issue in US politics.

Its also a mostly dead issue here in Kanuckistan too. The only people still bushing it hard are the Liberals, and they are dead. Over. Hasta La Vista, Baby.

See, the way you beat a con job is to point at the con man and say "HEY, LOOK AT THE CON MAN!!!" People -hate- being conned.

WIFI lunchbox guy said...

Thanks for the tip.