I have a number of friends who are MD’s, including several friends from the gun club. My own primary care physician is a friend and he’s been shooting with me too.
I’ve asked several of them if patients tell them the truth. Emphatically they all said very few patients tell the truth and that’s a big problem in medicine. It’s probably the biggest impediment to solving a medical problem. I remember watching the old TV show House, and Dr. House frequently said, “Everybody lies”. Yup, that’s true.
Docs who are trying to diagnose and treat an ailment need to have all relevant facts to provide their best recommendation and for so many different reasons, including embarrassment, cultural biases and fear, their patients often lie. Frequently lie. To their own detriment.
So now our government wants to introduce legislation that will require MD’s to ask questions that, IMHO, many firearms folks will lie about. The MD’s may be required to ask the questions, but I doubt the legislation requires the patient to tell the truth. And most gun owners I know will not tell the truth. It’s the path of least resistance to disclosing private information.
So this proposed legislation has unintended consequence of further straining the doctor/patient relationship, and more likely that patients will refuse to provide honest answers in a medical situation. It further drives a wedge between an already fragile yet critical relationship. Perhaps even causing some folks to avoid medical treatment. And that’s just wrong.
What’s next??? Will my dentist start asking about firearms in my house? Or perhaps pharmacists at CVS? Perhaps school teachers and administrators? Hell, why not the mailman too? Why the singular focus on guns and not the many other, far more frequent risk factors in life?
:-(