HB2823 Introduced. Prohibit physician questions re firearms.

[K5GU]

Filed today 3-10-2015 in the House by Spitzer. Relating to prohibiting certain physician questions regarding firearms.

[cb1000rider]

Link: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84 ... 02823I.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Question: Why?

Those of you who are screaming for "less" government, here's a perfect example of more government. I'm not compelled to answer my physicians questions. If I don't like my physician's politics, I'm free to find another one. What's the point?

[mojo84]

Link: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84 ... 02823I.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Question: Why?

Those of you who are screaming for "less" government, here's a perfect example of more government. I'm not compelled to answer my physicians questions. If I don't like my physician's politics, I'm free to find another one. What's the point?

Many physicians don't want to ask the questions in the first place. They are being compelled to by the AMA and government. So far, quite a few of them do not comply and refuse to ask them. It's not there own free market capitalistic idea.

The reason is to keep the government from interfering with the private patient physician relationship and avoid prevent the government and insurance companies from getting information they have no reason to have. Think backdoor registration.

[tlt]

Good one! Why, well, why do they ask, particularly the VA, etc. It seems like a symbolic way to say stop over reach.

From another web site...
In the former case, although some doctors (particularly pediatricians) may ask their patients whether they have guns at home, there is no provision of Medicare regulations that requires them to do so; it's purely an individual initiative on the part of various doctors. In June 2011, Florida became the first state to pass a law prohibiting such inquiries when Gov. Rick Scott signed a law barring doctors from routinely asking patients if they own guns unless such questions are "relevant to the patient's medical care or safety." In September 2011, a federal judge declared the law to be unconstitutional and issued an injunction blocking its implementation, but in July 2014 an appeals court overturned that decision and upheld the law:
A federal appeals court [has] upheld a 2011 law that prohibits doctors from asking patients about gun ownership or recording that information in medical records unless it was medically necessary. The law was declared unconstitutional by a federal district judge, Marcia Cooke, who agreed with doctors and gun control advocates that it violated doctors' free speech rights. But a panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, overturned that ruling, saying that the law was a "legitimate regulation of professional conduct" and that the limits it imposed were "incidental."

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/med ... xlvE14B.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

see also: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/oba ... 96121.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TresHuevos]

Good one! Why, well, why do they ask, particularly the VA, etc. It seems like a symbolic way to say stop over reach.

I have never had my or any other doctor at the VA ask me anything firearm related.

[cb1000rider]

They are being compelled to by the AMA and government. So far, quite a few of them do not comply and refuse to ask them. It's not there own free market capitalistic idea.
The reason is to keep the government from interfering with the private patient physician relationship and avoid prevent the government and insurance companies from getting information they have no reason to have. Think backdoor registration.

Can you show me where they are compelled? Is there a government standard anywhere that requests this information? The AMA is a professional organization (among other things) - they can no more compel their members to do anything than the NRA can force policy on your private business.

I understand why some pediatricians ask, just looking at the statistics. And honestly, I don't care if they have that discussion with parents, especially "untrained" parents.
I've never seen anything that indicates that doctors asking is driven by more than some statistical record keeping, if that, and perhaps personal politics. If the AMA is interested, I understand why - but none of my doctors have ever asked.

I don't need the government to tell doctors that they're not allowed to ask what I don't have to answer. A simple, "decline to answer" is all I need.

Spitzer, go work on something I care about.

[MeMelYup]

They are being compelled to by the AMA and government. So far, quite a few of them do not comply and refuse to ask them. It's not there own free market capitalistic idea.
The reason is to keep the government from interfering with the private patient physician relationship and avoid prevent the government and insurance companies from getting information they have no reason to have. Think backdoor registration.

Can you show me where they are compelled? Is there a government standard anywhere that requests this information? The AMA is a professional organization (among other things) - they can no more compel their members to do anything than the NRA can force policy on your private business.

I understand why some pediatricians ask, just looking at the statistics. And honestly, I don't care if they have that discussion with parents, especially "untrained" parents.
I've never seen anything that indicates that doctors asking is driven by more than some statistical record keeping, if that, and perhaps personal politics. If the AMA is interested, I understand why - but none of my doctors have ever asked.

I don't need the government to tell doctors that they're not allowed to ask what I don't have to answer. A simple, "decline to answer" is all I need.

Spitzer, go work on something I care about.

The problem is that if it is a question that they answer and it goes into a database, then there is records that someone else can look at.

[mojo84]

They are being compelled to by the AMA and government. So far, quite a few of them do not comply and refuse to ask them. It's not there own free market capitalistic idea.
The reason is to keep the government from interfering with the private patient physician relationship and avoid prevent the government and insurance companies from getting information they have no reason to have. Think backdoor registration.

Can you show me where they are compelled? Is there a government standard anywhere that requests this information? The AMA is a professional organization (among other things) - they can no more compel their members to do anything than the NRA can force policy on your private business.

I understand why some pediatricians ask, just looking at the statistics. And honestly, I don't care if they have that discussion with parents, especially "untrained" parents.
I've never seen anything that indicates that doctors asking is driven by more than some statistical record keeping, if that, and perhaps personal politics. If the AMA is interested, I understand why - but none of my doctors have ever asked.

I don't need the government to tell doctors that they're not allowed to ask what I don't have to answer. A simple, "decline to answer" is all I need.

Spitzer, go work on something I care about.

You can do your own research. The AMA and NRA are entirely different from one another.

[rotor]

Seriously, do you want the government prohibiting your doctor from discussing any topic with you? This is free speech between you and your doctor ( or your minister or whatever ) and we don't need any legislator involved prohibiting or forcing disclosure or preventing conversation. This is not just firearms. It is private trusted conversation. Beware when you prohibit speech.

[mojo84]

Seriously, do you want the government prohibiting your doctor from discussing any topic with you? This is free speech between you and your doctor ( or your minister or whatever ) and we don't need any legislator involved prohibiting or forcing disclosure or preventing conversation. This is not just firearms. It is private trusted conversation. Beware when you prohibit speech.

I seriously didn't want the government involved in my healthcare in the first place.

People underestimate the new requirements regarding electronic medical records and exactly whom will have access to them in the future.

[chasfm11]

Seriously, do you want the government prohibiting your doctor from discussing any topic with you? This is free speech between you and your doctor ( or your minister or whatever ) and we don't need any legislator involved prohibiting or forcing disclosure or preventing conversation. This is not just firearms. It is private trusted conversation. Beware when you prohibit speech.

I seriously didn't want the government involved in my healthcare in the first place.

People just underestimate the new requirements regarding electronic medical records and exactly whom will have access to them in the future.

This.

My doctor can ask me anything that he wants. I'll answer the questions that I want to. It is when he adds my answers (or refusals to answer) to a data base that it turns the problem in an entirely different direction.

[tomtexan]

An interesting note about this bill is that Stuart Spitzer is a surgeon and his wife is a physician.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Seriously, do you want the government prohibiting your doctor from discussing any topic with you? This is free speech between you and your doctor ( or your minister or whatever ) and we don't need any legislator involved prohibiting or forcing disclosure or preventing conversation. This is not just firearms. It is private trusted conversation. Beware when you prohibit speech.

I seriously didn't want the government involved in my healthcare in the first place.

People just underestimate the new requirements regarding electronic medical records and exactly whom will have access to them in the future.

This.

My doctor can ask me anything that he wants. I'll answer the questions that I want to. It is when he adds my answers (or refusals to answer) to a data base that it turns the problem in an entirely different direction.

Correct and this is the point that many people miss.

Chas.

[aggie67]

I don't think this bill is going to make much difference. BUT I am sure I do not want health care workers asking about my or anyone else's guns.

In January, I got a call from a Doctor's office and the "girl" asked me if I knew that my 90 year old mother kept a loaded shotgun by her bedside. I explained that not only did we know, but my brother and I kept her in ammo and it was none of their business period and we would be looking for another Doctor to treat mother's ailment. I called Mother and she said she was proud that she lived alone and could take care of any problems that might arise. She also said she told them about the loaded Savage 24 (22 over 410) by the back door to keep the squirrel population down in her Pecan trees.

She is still able to live alone, drive to the store in the daylight and attend church several times a week. About 5 years back she took Daddy's old Rem 870 from her bedside and held an intruder at gunpoint on her carport, called 911 from her cell phone and waited for Sheriffs Dept to arrive. There may come a time when we have to remove her gun, but it will be when we move her in with one of us boys, who will take care of her safety.

[RoyGBiv]

Filed today 9-10-2015 in the House by Spitzer. Relating to prohibiting certain physician questions regarding firearms.

Is it September already? Time flies!

My doc offered to write me a prescription for a gun if I didn't have one.
I asked if my Rx plan would cover it.
True story.