"Why no, Doctor - I don't own any guns"

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unless you're referring to a psychologist or neurologist I don't see why your doctor would ever be called to testify on such a matter.

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"IMO, the question is asked so if one of his patients is later involved in a shooting related accident he can sit in court and state "I told Mr. ___ of the dangers of keeping firearms in the home and he obviously did not heed my advice"." That's just ridiculous!

I was referring specifically to a pediatrician, I didn't make that clear.

In the case of a child involved in an accidental shooting and a parent being charged with some sort of negligence, the child's physician would very likely be called to testify. If the pediatrician had a conversation with the parent about guns in the home it would likely be allowed testimony, IMO.

Ridiculous in the above context? Have you spent much time in the court room during criminal trials? If the prosecutor could get it in (and I think he could), it would certainly not help the case of the parent.
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Speaking as someone who has been in the medical-legal world for 23 years now, primarily in defending medmal cases and doing risk management, and has been in more courtrooms then you can shake a stick at, I have never encountered the above scenario. Nor do I think it likely, at least in my area. I work with our local prosecutors from time to time in child abuse cases, where they often have testimony from my physicians. We are occasionally asked to testify in that context; I am hard-pressed to remember a single case of a parent being prosecuted for an accidental shooting resulting from unsafe storage.

I also don't see cases in which parents are prosecuted for failing to secure drain cleaner, and the physician is asked to testify if he/she told them to secure any dangerous household chemicals.
 
You guys aren't actually in favor of strangling a First Amendment right because you're sensitive about gun questions, are you?
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Of course not. I'm in favor of using my First Amendment rights and put him in his place. Time he learned that other folks have rights too.
 
If you tell them you own a gun your peditrician will write it in his or her chart. Then that night black helicopters & aliens will come and take away your guns. :eek: :eek: Say nothing

Now take off the tin foil hat. A good friend of mine who serve in the military, owns and shoots guns, is also a peditrician. It is recommend ( I think the AMA) to ask kids and parents various safety questions. Do you wear your seatbelt, do you wear a helmet when you ride a bike, etc. It is all provoke discussion for the welfare of the child. Unfortunately you don't get an owners manual when you have a child. My friend tells me stories (of course not using any of the patients names) that makes my blood boil. Some pregnant women still smoke and drink (and do drugs, and I'm not talking about young urban moms, his patients parents are usually rich suburban types), some people ride in the front seat with an infant on their lap, and some parents keep loaded guns unlocked and out for unsupervised kids to find. The good thing is he is trying to educate the anti-gun doctors in his practice on how to broach the subject better. He simply ask, do you have any UNLOCKED firearms in your home. This always gets a response "what do you mean, Unlocked firearm" from the parents. Then he goes into his talk about gun safety in the home, Hands them a photocopy of what a what a gun lock is, etc, and he is done. He had paranoid Rambo types get all insulted. One guy called him a liberal hippie , and stormed out, then a few days later the father seen him at the range, and the guy came up to apologize.
 
I am hard-pressed to remember a single case of a parent being prosecuted for an accidental shooting resulting from unsafe storage.
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Yea, I acknowledge the rate of prosecution is probably low. I think it would make a difference if the accident occurred in a state like California which has gun storage laws (which defeat the purpose of an in home defensive weapon IMO). Also the "gun climate" among the jury pool/constituents in the area may make a difference to the prosecutor.

I think my opinion on this subject may be a little jaded by the pediatrician who asked me the question. He was/is active in local politics on the opposite side of the gun issue. He's a good doctor, I don't agree with his politics which didn't matter to me until he started poking into my dresser drawers. And again this happened 10 years ago during a period many 2nd Amendment types were evaluating their role in defense of the under attack 2nd Amendment (myself included).
 
Well..

Doctor: Do you own any guns?
Me: Yes, several.

Doctor: Are the guns locked up?
Me: Some, but to lock them all up would defeat the purpose of having them

Doctor: Do you have children?
Me: Yes, but they're older, and they know how to safely handle all of the guns in the house.

Doctor:[ any further question ]
Me: Bite me, I'll find a new doctor.
 
dfaught...We are talking pediatricians. They usually ask you the question when your kids are from toddler age through to late teen. If your kids are adults (over 18) then you will never hear the question from a doc, if your older kids are teenagers you should keep your guns locked or at least unloaded. Again not to sound like a broken record, but I seen first hand what can happen when a teenage kid shows off dad's gun and has a ND during a party when the parents are not home. 3 kids were wounded and the kid attempted suicide when he tried to stick the barrel in his mouth, thankfully we were able to stop him. One kid who was an athlete and had the round go thru his arm sued the shooter and his parents. If you feel the need to have multiple loaded guns laying around to stop a home invasion or a zombie attack, understand your taking a risk of having your kid, his or her friend, or a bugular when your not home, finding that gun and using it. As a parent if your ready for that then be my guest. God has a way of weeding out the stupid.
 
My doctor's never asked. If he does, he's not going to get a responsive response. We've had some pretty serious conversations about my back problems and my carrying an excessively-heavy purse, though, so he probably suspects. The Galco model I favor isn't exactly inobvious.

After HPPA made medical records a lot less private from Official Snooping, I stopped telling physicans much. Symptoms, what I have done about them, diet and exercise; the rest isn't on their need-to-know.
 
Doc: "Do you have guns"
Me: Flex biceps and smile: yes Doc
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ROFL good one OneInTheChamber! My mom is a nurse and the doctor she works for is my doc and about as good old boy as you can get. We go shooting together and he recently lent my mom his glock 17 so she could try before she buys. If my doc asks me if I own guns it's because he wants to compare or find out how i'm shooting this week!:D
 
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