Out of the mouths of HCI and VPC ...
http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/feb00/170177.html
Doctor documents dangers of guns
Educating parents is goal of study
Sunday, February 6, 2000
By Mark D. Somerson
Dispatch Medical Reporter
During the past decade, Children's Hospital physicians have studied injury patterns and issued public health warnings about dangerous products such as trampolines, watch batteries and baby walkers.
Yet one product that has consistently wounded, maimed and killed children has gone unaddressed. Until now.
"If we can convince people that guns are no different than baby walkers, then maybe we can do something about it,'' said Dr. Jonathan I. Groner, a surgeon and acting director of Children's trauma program.
"If you look at this from a public health angle, parents have to weigh the risks of having a gun in the house.''
To put the risk into perspective, Groner is studying patient records for every gunshot victim treated at Children's Hospital from 1992 through 1999.
The study, which Groner hopes to publish in a pediatric medical journal, includes details from the 177 gunshot victims who were treated at Children's during that period.
Of these patients, 18 died of their wounds.
Groner's information doesn't address the politics of guns or whether a shooting is an accident or homicide -- it simply provides a snapshot of its victims, he said.
According to patient records, 105 victims were Franklin County residents, and the remainder were brought to the hospital from 23 other Ohio counties, as well as from Kentucky and West Virginia.
Victims' ages ranged from less than a year to 18. He said some older teens are treated at adult hospitals, which would explain why only 23 16- to 18-year-old victims were treated at Children's.
That age group traditionally has the highest rate of gunshot injuries and deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of firearm deaths for 15- to 19-year-olds was second only to the rate for 20- to 24-year-olds.
Groner said the most compelling information concerns where children are shot. The data show 51 percent of the shootings occurred in the victims' homes; 20 percent occurred in friend's or relative's homes.
In 93 percent of the cases, victims were shot by relatives or friends.
"Only 7 percent were shot on the street,'' Groner said. "People are so obsessed with children being swept up off of the street, but they are being killed by friends, relatives and neighbors.''
Kathy Haley, trauma nurse coordinator at Children's, said no other injury affects emergency-room staff like gunshot wounds.
"When a kid comes in who is shot, there is this feeling that these types of injuries are senseless,'' Haley said. "It's always a tragedy. How can this happen to our youngest citizens?''
Groner and Haley said although the politics of guns has no place in the emergency department or operating room, the public-health concern nags at a lot of the staff.
"It's not like car seats,'' Haley said. "Everyone can agree on that.
"But when you think about it, guns and children simply don't mix. The risks are so great.''
Groner said the study will also include combing through police records of each shooting to determine the make and model of the guns.
"What's remarkably overwhelming is the preventable nature of these injuries,'' he said. "This doesn't have to happen.''
Groner's data show that 51 percent of the shootings were reported as "accidents.''
"If toaster ovens were killing kids in the home, we wouldn't have toaster ovens,'' he said. "But still there are guns.''
Dr. Robert T. Brown, chief of adolescent medicine at Children's, said parents need to know the risks associated with having a handgun in their house and their children's friends' houses.
He said although it may be awkward to ask others about guns, parents need to know.
"You can say 'By the way, do you keep a loaded handgun around your house?' '' Brown said the awkwardness of asking is outweighed by the risk of a child being injured.
He said pediatricians and family- practice doctors need to discuss guns with their patients and their patients' parents.
"We ask about guns on our standard intake form in the adolescent clinic here,'' he said. "We ask about the type of gun, how it's stored, and then we counsel them on risk.''
Bill Myers, health commissioner with the Columbus Health Department, said gun violence is a public health threat. "We will approach it as a health issue, like we do with an epidemic of a communicable disease,'' he said.
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/feb00/170177.html
Doctor documents dangers of guns
Educating parents is goal of study
Sunday, February 6, 2000
By Mark D. Somerson
Dispatch Medical Reporter
During the past decade, Children's Hospital physicians have studied injury patterns and issued public health warnings about dangerous products such as trampolines, watch batteries and baby walkers.
Yet one product that has consistently wounded, maimed and killed children has gone unaddressed. Until now.
"If we can convince people that guns are no different than baby walkers, then maybe we can do something about it,'' said Dr. Jonathan I. Groner, a surgeon and acting director of Children's trauma program.
"If you look at this from a public health angle, parents have to weigh the risks of having a gun in the house.''
To put the risk into perspective, Groner is studying patient records for every gunshot victim treated at Children's Hospital from 1992 through 1999.
The study, which Groner hopes to publish in a pediatric medical journal, includes details from the 177 gunshot victims who were treated at Children's during that period.
Of these patients, 18 died of their wounds.
Groner's information doesn't address the politics of guns or whether a shooting is an accident or homicide -- it simply provides a snapshot of its victims, he said.
According to patient records, 105 victims were Franklin County residents, and the remainder were brought to the hospital from 23 other Ohio counties, as well as from Kentucky and West Virginia.
Victims' ages ranged from less than a year to 18. He said some older teens are treated at adult hospitals, which would explain why only 23 16- to 18-year-old victims were treated at Children's.
That age group traditionally has the highest rate of gunshot injuries and deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of firearm deaths for 15- to 19-year-olds was second only to the rate for 20- to 24-year-olds.
Groner said the most compelling information concerns where children are shot. The data show 51 percent of the shootings occurred in the victims' homes; 20 percent occurred in friend's or relative's homes.
In 93 percent of the cases, victims were shot by relatives or friends.
"Only 7 percent were shot on the street,'' Groner said. "People are so obsessed with children being swept up off of the street, but they are being killed by friends, relatives and neighbors.''
Kathy Haley, trauma nurse coordinator at Children's, said no other injury affects emergency-room staff like gunshot wounds.
"When a kid comes in who is shot, there is this feeling that these types of injuries are senseless,'' Haley said. "It's always a tragedy. How can this happen to our youngest citizens?''
Groner and Haley said although the politics of guns has no place in the emergency department or operating room, the public-health concern nags at a lot of the staff.
"It's not like car seats,'' Haley said. "Everyone can agree on that.
"But when you think about it, guns and children simply don't mix. The risks are so great.''
Groner said the study will also include combing through police records of each shooting to determine the make and model of the guns.
"What's remarkably overwhelming is the preventable nature of these injuries,'' he said. "This doesn't have to happen.''
Groner's data show that 51 percent of the shootings were reported as "accidents.''
"If toaster ovens were killing kids in the home, we wouldn't have toaster ovens,'' he said. "But still there are guns.''
Dr. Robert T. Brown, chief of adolescent medicine at Children's, said parents need to know the risks associated with having a handgun in their house and their children's friends' houses.
He said although it may be awkward to ask others about guns, parents need to know.
"You can say 'By the way, do you keep a loaded handgun around your house?' '' Brown said the awkwardness of asking is outweighed by the risk of a child being injured.
He said pediatricians and family- practice doctors need to discuss guns with their patients and their patients' parents.
"We ask about guns on our standard intake form in the adolescent clinic here,'' he said. "We ask about the type of gun, how it's stored, and then we counsel them on risk.''
Bill Myers, health commissioner with the Columbus Health Department, said gun violence is a public health threat. "We will approach it as a health issue, like we do with an epidemic of a communicable disease,'' he said.
------------------
The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.