A Crime For Doctors to Ask About Guns?
Pediatricians react to proposed bill that would ban them from asking about guns.
Jan. 27, 2011— -- In Florida, where a 5-year-old has just been suspended after bringing a loaded .22-caliber pistol to preschool, a local politician has proposed a bill that would ban doctors from asking parents about guns at home.
"The intention of the bill is to prevent the violation of an individual's right to privacy," State Rep. Jason Brodeur said in a statement to ABC News. "The bill addresses a violation of privacy rights concerning firearms and seeks to prevent future occurrences of such violations."
Under the proposed legislation -- currently under review by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Florida House of Representatives -- a doctor could face a hefty fine or even jail time for asking a patient or a patient's family about guns in their home.
"Parents don't know what to believe and don't know why their state wants to know if they lawfully own firearms," Brodeur said. He said the purpose of the bill is to protect families from being denied treatment for refusing to answer questions about guns in their home.
But the proposal has sparked outrage among pediatricians, many of whom say asking parents about guns in the home not just their right, but their responsibility.
"Including a discussion about gun safety during checkups at a pediatrician's office is no different than encouraging parents to use car seats or keep poisons locked up," said Dr. John Moses, an associate professor of pediatrics at Duke University. "The issue here is not the right of gun ownership, but simply child safety and the prevention of tragic injuries that can be avoided by proper gun storage."
Gunshot wounds account for one in 25 admissions to pediatric trauma centers in the United States, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Parents are often not aware that unsafe storage of guns has caused many child injuries and deaths," said Dr. Neal Kaufman, professor of pediatrics and public health at the University of California, Los Angeles Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Pediatricians have a responsibility to identify possible threats to a child's safety and highlight ways parents can lessen those risks, Kaufman said.
