If you had a funny noise in your engine, who would you go to? A pediatrician, right?
Same with a ghosting problem on your new plasma TV--you'd consult your child's doctor, wouldn't you?
No?
Why not?
Because education and perceived stature as an authority figure notwithstanding, when you get them out of their area of expertise, they're just as fallible as the rest of us, aren't they?
But somehow, they assume--and want the public to believe--they are qualified to prescribe a cure for gun accidents in the home--even though their specialized training in gun safety may be non-existent. And worse, we've seen this junk science codified into law--with penalties for disobedience--and tragic, outrageous results like pitchfork murders.
That's why it's unacceptable to see the medical community continue to pose as authorities in a field where its qualifications have not been established. And it's dissapointing to see Forbes parrot this nonsense without asking the basic questions: What would happen if you needed a gun and it was locked up and separated from its ammunition? What would happen if a fire broke out, and your extinguisher was similarly disabled?
Several years back, I teamed up with professional risk manager and former LA Deputy Sheriff Joe Horn to create the Physician Qualifications and Liability Form to challenge doctors' credentials for offering medical advice in an area where they have not been trained.
The form established three things: that the physician has or has not received certification and training in home firearms safety counseling; that the physician's medical malpractice insurance does or does not cover engaging in activities for which the physician is not certified; and that the physician accepts legal financial liability should their advice result in injury or death.
It's past time we started pushing back on this. I'd like to see gun owners print out this form and have a copy handy whenever they go, or take their children, to the doctor, and to produce it if the doctor initiates gun safety couseling.
Most may mean well, but we all know what the road to Hell is paved with.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
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3 comments:
Some times, it's simpler than that, boss. My kids got this college educated, tight as a drum, broad for a pediatrician, who asked on a visit last year, "Do you have any guns in the home?" To which I replied," Mind your owned damned business, sugar britches". End of interrogation.
I want to thank you for having this link to the form still active as a link. After wandering around at The View From North Central Idaho, one commenter mentioned that he kept a copy of your form in his pocket every time he went to see a doctor with his children. I came here and printed one out for myself.
Thanks again for keeping your archives complete. That can't be done cheaply.
And the fact that people accept this intrusion by people untrained in the subject as reasonable shows the "White Coat Effect" extends way past blood pressure.
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