Unbelievable! Gun violence is like the flu? Maybe they can come up with a shot to give us.
http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ac-cn-health-forum-20180726-story.html
http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ac-cn-health-forum-20180726-story.html
Talking to your doctor about your guns makes as much sense as talking to your LGS about your medical condition.
Unless: Teratos, Shootin The Breeze, DblDoc, Docster, et al are your doctor
"Do you have guns in your home?"
"Nope"
...annnnnd move on with life. I have yet to have a dr ask this, but just saying "no" seems pretty easy.
My 84 year old mom is a child of the midwest, grew up with pheasants being dismantled at the kitchen sink, eating all sorts of roaming hoofstock, and could remember - during a stint living on the New Jersey coastline during the 1940's - family discussions about what to do if the Nazis were to land on the nearby shore (start with the 30-.06, and go from there).
Her doctor recently asked her if there were guns in the house (she lives along side my arsenal, now).
"Oh, yes," she said.
"How many?" asked the doctor.
"Oh goodness, I don't know. A lot," she said.
He asked, "Well, are they locked up?"
"Sure, some. But they don't really wander around much anyway."
She's normally a push-over Pollyanna when it comes to authority figures, but on this topic I do believe she defaults to channeling her late dad and husband. Her friends in lower MoCo were horrified, once, to discover she didn't care about having guns in the house. Like she was happily living with poisonous snakes or even Republicans.
Oh, and med mal insurance premiums will reflect the additional risk of becoming firearms safety consultants, too.
I've seen this particular line several times. Not a viable argument. If your doctor recommends that you keep your firearms locked, ammunition separate, out of reach of children etc. there is no liability if you don't do that. It's in you.
Though I wouldn't put it past some ambulance chaser to sue a doctor for not having told a patient (or their family) that someone shouldn't be allowed to posses a gun. If a doctor thinks someone shouldn't be driving, and doesn't say so, is there liability? Not implying there should be, but can imagine it making hay in court if something unpleasant transpires.
If I recommend a patient not drive and they do, the liability is on them. Interestingly, Maryland DOES NOT require reporting of those patients.
But what if someone tries to make the case that you SHOULD have recommended against driving/golfing/sushi-making-with-knives and didn't? Are you obliged to understand every possible risky activity and recommend against all of them, or can you insulate yourself just by saying, "You're not up to many risky activities any more, so don't do risky things."
How far can this go, really? What if you get hit crossing the street? Should your doctor council you to look both ways? What about things like lawnmowers, chainsaws, nail guns?
Well, that's kinda my point. I see the hand-wringing about guns in the house to be a weird thing to single out, considering the question "is there a car in your driveway" or "are there cupcakes in the house" to be far more connected to mortality for most people.
Unless: Teratos, Shootin The Breeze, DblDoc, Docster, et al are your doctor