Daddy Got A Gun: Where?

Rather troubling, as well as bizarre. Say, if American Docs are being urged to ask children about their parents guns for "health" reasons, and they then go on to turn that information over to authorities, as in the case below, isn't that a violation of HIPAA? Actually, it reeks of a violation of much more than that.

Should your doctor ask your child if you own a gun?

Guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatric say "yes."

"When the little girl said yes, the doctor began grilling her and her mom about the number and type of guns, how they are stored, etc.

"If the incident had ended there, it would have merely been annoying.

"But when a friend in law enforcement let Debbie know that her doctor had filed a report with the police about her family’s (entirely legal) gun ownership, she got mad."

Comments

[seekeronos]

Since when do medical doctors become the arbiters of our Second Ammendment Rights?

This just reeks of Nanny-Statism.

Actually, it is vaguely reminiscent of the sort of things a Totalitarian state would do, trying to set up a Stasi-like cadre of informants.

What is even more sickening is that this is a chilling new low as well, as the bonds of trust between patient and doctor are abused, to say nothing of the privacy of the family.

[Lala]

I wonder what Dr. Deborah Peel, PatientPrivacyRights.org
has to say about this. I think I'll contact her.

[iwabwu]

That sounds a bit like teachers asking students if they have Christmas trees at home.

[SDN]

Ain't just pediatricians; I had several doctors in AL with that question on their "Patient Information" forms. My usual response was none of their damned business, spiced with the occasional "Fewer than I want" or "Why, am I in range of your house?"

[Wahoo Willie Sez]

Hummm. Can you say lawsuit?

[jj]

Wille, did you ever post under the name Hondo?

[Wahoo Willie Sez:]

"Wille, did you ever post under the name Hondo?"

No I haven't. What is it you really want to know?

[jj]

Oh, nothing, you and he think a lot alike. He disappeared from posting a few months ago after telling everyone he had to enter the hospital for a serious illness. And I have not seen him post since. I was hoping nothing bad happened to him.

[Wahoo Willie Sez:]

Wasn't me. I started posting using Rick, then someone else was using it too. So I used Original Rick and was still being confused with the other guy. So, I stole the name of a local resturant.

[jj]

Sounds like a good restaurant to me, haha. Anyhow, thanks for the info, so the mystery goes unsolved. And keep it up, I've enjoyed your comments.

[Wahoo Willie Sez:]

Yeah it's a little seafood house with a Jamaican cook, great place. Thanks for the compliment.

[hobo]

Seeker, allow me to do a spin off of your "Nanny Statism" with "Nanny Neo-Nazism". I'd like to know what Dr. Phil or Judge Judy thinks of the questions and the source of their suggestions.

[seekeronos]

I can't say what Dr. Phil or Judge Judy or any other TV personality would have to say.

But I do know that my pediatrician has no business interrogating my children as to my lawfully owned firearms, much less challenging my Second Ammendment rights to own the same.

He ought to keep his big yap shut, except to inquire as to the health of my kids and dispense medical advice, and not butt his nose into my family's personal affairs.

And even then, what I do tell him should remain protected and confidential under the provisions of HIPAA... although it would not surprise me at all to learn that there are some sneaky clauses in HIPAA which allow doctors to do just what this post is about.

By the same token, as the old cartoon used to go... "knowing is half the battle". I plan on educating my kids on the proper respect for and use of firearms as soon as they are old enough to handle a .22 pop gun I keep around for the local varmints.