Went to the Dr. today...

[JM]

For my first annual visit with this office.

One of the interview questions was if I have any firearms in my home & if so are they kept in locked storage. I was surprised by this question & replied a bit gruffly that it was nobody's business.

Probably should have just replied with a no or N/A.

[weiler]

“I have one in your office”

[lassiter]

I would have left to find a new Dr.

[jeffh]

Aug 31, 2023 18:29:27 GMT -5 JM said:

.....Probably should have just replied with a no or N/A.

No, people need to know when they're doing wrong.  That's a trespass in my mind.  None of their damned business.  WHAT does that have to do with WHY you went to the doctor's office?

Every single time I'm asked if I ever worry whether I have enough food (during a doctor's visit), I tell them that's not why I'm here and I'm not answering those stupid questions.

Some of the "medical assistants" are offended and some smirk and move along.  I think a lot of people need to relearn the lesson that if you tick someone off, there will be consequences.  Might save them the angst of being offended by me or maybe adherence to the same logic could save their life some day in a less civil situation with someone else.  If someone were ever to have the guts to TELL me they are offended by my response, I'll just tell them that "I was offended by them asking - so we're even."

[JM]

Unfortunately the health care options in this town are very limited. One corporate entity is taking over. They were the last to finally remove "their" mask mandate.

It is possible to be black balled here.

[contender]

I would have replied to their question with a question.
"Are you homosexual?"
When they wanted to know why I did that,, I'd say; "What does your question have to do with my health? Just like my question to you,, it's offensive & privileged information that has nothing to do with my health.

Or,, if you want to be less confrontational,, a simple "Not Applicable to my health conditions." And you can say; "Some of your questions are against privacy laws, and I'm not legally required to answer such questions. Not applicable to my health issues."

[potatojudge]

Not sure how many other physicians are on here, so I'll chime in.

From a public health/all cause mortality perspective, screening for preventable causes of harm is worthwhile. You know what your motivation is to come to the doctor, but that's not the service that's provided- what is offered is what the physician considers reasonable medicine and what is accomplished is a result of what we consider reasonable and what the patient consents to. If we only did what people came in asking for we'd me missing a lot of opportunities to improve the health of our patients. I can't make you do anything you don't want to; you can't make me cut off your foot because you identify as an amputee.

Pediatric offices ask about trampolines, guns, medication storage, and a slew of social questions that in any other setting would be inappropriate. Other offices ask about motorcycles, helmet usage, seatbelts, destructive habits, whatever. Nobody comes in asking for screening for abuse. Imagine your idiot neighbor gets a gun because hey guns are cool- then their kid finds it and accidentally shoots their best friend. You'd say "How tragic. I wish someone could have talked to them about safety" but in the same breath you'd say there shouldn't be mandatory safety courses for gun ownership or laws about storage and remember what a great patriot you were getting gruff about a screening questionnaire. As gun owners, we're best served when there are fewer accidents and attacks. At least in a medical office you're not looking at government restrictions or policies, and there's no penalty for lying. I'd promote that approach over mandates. It's literally the private sector solution, at least in that we're not directly employed by Medicare/Medicaid, though the conflation is frustrating.

My filter for sensitive questions is gone. I just ask because I've seen some crazy stuff and I've seen what happens when things are missed. We do what we do and how we do it because of hard lessons learned over a lot of years.

To the question of guns, say whatever you want. Yes, no, lie, we don't care. For a small number of patients, it'll help impress on them the importance of safe storage, etc. I know we all think we're perfectly safe with our guns, but nobody is. We all need safety reminders, and there's usually room for either improvement, reevaluation, or extra mindfulness. It's a chance for a mom to review with her husband how they store guns, and if their needs change as their children age. We've all got so much on our plates in life, and not everyone prioritizes gun stuff like we do, and those people benefit from reminders.

Nobody is tracking you for your answer. They're tracking you for being on these forums lol. Your doctor isn't judging you, and even if they had anti-gun leanings they don't have any personal investment in you to spare it a thought. If you get any personal reaction it's more likely a doc that's happy to talk guns with you, which is a great way to build a relationship with a patient so maybe they'll take their insulin and not die of renal failure.

Nobody is going to provide bad care if you're a jerk, but you will get bare bones treatment and sent on your way. People know better than to treat their mechanic poorly, or their waiter, but when you get someone with enough professionalism to not retaliate that's probably not the time to take your frustrations out on someone trying to help you.

[x101airborne]

My doc asked me that once. I too was gruff and asked why he wanted to know. He said that he was thinking my PTSD would benefit from a medicine and if I reacted badly to it he wanted to know I was at least safety conscious. I told him no worry, I am too chicken poop to actually pull the trigger on myself or someone else without immediate threat. We get along great now and I have to give the man respect for only asking once.

[Sarge]

Aug 31, 2023 21:03:18 GMT -5 contender said:

I would have replied to their question with a question.
"Are you homosexual?"
When they wanted to know why I did that,, I'd say; "What does your question have to do with my health? Just like my question to you,, it's offensive & privileged information that has nothing to do with my health.

Or,, if you want to be less confrontational,, a simple "Not Applicable to my health conditions." And you can say; "Some of your questions are against privacy laws, and I'm not legally required to answer such questions. Not applicable to my health issues."

I go the the doctor when I'm too sick or in too much pain, to go anywhere else. The only exception is the yearly check-up necessary to keep my RX's rolling.

I had a snarky nurse practitioner ask me 'about guns in the home'. I countered with 'Where do you go to church?' and got the blank stare. I said 'Both are constitutionally protected activities and whether or not we participate is nobody's business. Next question?'

I've never been asked again.

[contender]

An excellent differing viewpoint potatojudge.

And while I do see all your valid points,, I've also seen abuses by doctors who are using their "data" to provide the AMA with information to push an anti-gun agenda. It's a known fact that the AMA wants to classify gun ownership as a disease (in simple layman's terms,) so they can get more money for "research" or other endeavors.
I work with a lot of LEO's, and because of that, I'm around medical personnel often. And MANY of the ER types point to guns as a problem,, while ignoring the obvious problem,, the individual. Many of them promote an anti-gun agenda. Plus,, through the years there have been several articles in the AMA Journals about gathering information on gun owners.

Yes,, there are many people who should not have firearms. As mentioned above,, sadly,, a small portion of soldiers have or may have PTSD,, and could be suicidal. (As mentioned above.) Suicide is a horrible thing. And often, firearms are used for that purpose. I recall a Dr. talking to a group,, who had a son who had mental issues. The son lived in a facility,, but was pretty functional. Dad took him Christmas shopping at a wally-world. He allowed the son to shop alone. Son tried to buy ammo, but was denied. (The system worked.) But later,, the son went outside the facility and purposely flung himself into traffic to commit suicide.

But due to privacy laws,, and the general national attitude portrayed all too often,, many people, groups etc are blaming firearms,, and refuse to accept the fact it's the people & not an object.
Asking about personal property which is protected by the Constitution, is not a medical issue. Asking about things like PTSD,, or other conditions that MIGHT put a person into a mental state of harm to themselves or others,, is relevant. Too many other tools offer the same type of potential damage a firearm can have.

So I always suggest to people,, that if a medical professional asks a question about firearm ownership,, do as you suggest,, just lie about it. As you've mentioned,, there is no legal backlash to that. But I also do not like the fact that they are asking.

[jeffh]

IF I actually had a DOCTOR (mine was replaced with a nurse-practitioner) AND I had relationship with said doctor AND said doctor asked me face to face for a reason, I MIGHT answer differently.

I'm being asked impertinent questions by people in this new "medical assistant" position who are merely collecting data across the board and without any consideration of who the patient is or what they need. It ends up in a database no one has any real responsibility to protect, because there are no consequences to them if they lose control of your personal information.

In the very same offices, I'm asked for my driver's license, which I will gladly show them, but they need to HOLD it, but I refuse. "You can read it through the glass to identify me, but you're not scanning it." Boy, does that put them in a huff. They tell me "it's the law," but it's NOT the law. The law says they have to positively identify me using a valid photo ID. When I don't let them have it to scan it they refuse to even look at it at all, so they threaten me with a law which does not exist and then break the law that does exist.

Not that the office will use this information for any nefarious intent, but do I want to trust such information to be protected by people who are ignorant and indifferent? I think not.

It's NOT the doctors. I'd love to see a doctor and discuss important things, but neither my wife nor I have seen a real doctor in years - at least until she ended up in ER because a gate-keeper who really knows nothing about medicine placed herself (and lied about office policy) between my wife and the nurse practitioner and extended an infection by almost two weeks before getting treated - in ER. To add insult injury, I just got that bill yesterday.

It's not the doctors. There are just too many people between patients and doctors. I'd rather see more doctors hired than all the new gate-keepers who've been positioned between us and the doctors.

[markwell]

Here in the rural Alleghenies, I think most practitioners know not ask the question; This is gun country!

[markwell]

Here in the rural Alleghenies, I think most practitioners know not ask the question; This is gun country!

[gnappi]

I like the "Are you homosexual?" reply :-)

[lwfpdchief]

I am a working emergency room RN (retired fire chief) we have to ask those questions and plenty more. I don’t care if you have guns ( maybe later for conversation) if you are gay,straight,bi, trans, etc. we do ask if have trouble with transportation to and from appointments, trouble obtaining food, and difficulty with rent or mortgage

If so we try and get social services involved. We see so many homeless people and people who don’t have a Dr they just use the er for unnecessary visits.

The world and its views are changing.

I believe that this is all a way the government is tracking status and pushing towards socialized medicine. I don’t agree with it but I ask to keep my job.

I had to fill out the same forms when I registered my daughters in school. I simply did not answer the questions. Only had one person confront me about it and simply told them it was none of their business what I owned . They told me if I didn’t complete the paperwork my daughter wasn’t allowed in school. I just snickered. She took it to the school board and they just laughed at her and replied, hell everyone knows he has guns. She wouldn’t let it go and sent a letter to the board of education. They never replied to her. She was later fired when they found marijauna in her vehicle during a school wide search.

Moral of the story….some people have to ask questions, you don’t have to answer. Move on