Mandatory health screening question "Do you have guns in the home"?

[Jesse Jaymes]

I will preface this with an apology. I generally dislike non stop conspiracy theorists, tin foil hat type people. I don't watch much news on purpose. At 43 yrs old I have simply lost belief in many things. The US has gone in a much different direction than my own set of values and ideals. Sorry if I sound like a cry baby.

But in our morning "water cooler" discussion I've learned that 3 of my coworkers in a small eastern WA town were all queried "Do you have guns in the home"? prior to simple health screenings. This was for 1. a yearly physical for an early 40s male 2. annual screen for a late 30's female 3. potential pneumonia office visit late 30's male.

None of the above were for mental health reasons. Two of the people inquired "What does this have to do with my health"? They were informed it was now "Mandatory Questioning". So they lied and said "No guns".

Anther coworker's wife is a head nurse at the same medical facility. And has just undergone extensive training in an EPIC records system. Which is purported to be a link of ALL of your medical records and past history to include all prior hand written records once data entry can catch up. The EPIC records system is reported to be owned by the US Government. On the list of accessible users is the Department of Homeland Security. He went on to explain to me that the EPIC records system was pushed out to medical groups with a $50,000 BONUS per Dr in the group the 1st year. Then it was simply offered at no charge.....but is soon headed in the direction that there will be stiff monetary penalties to the groups for NOT using the system in the next few years ie......comply with our national database or be taxed.


Has my head been in the sand too long? Or is this stuff really happening?

 

[rayporter]

my doc hunts [ and knows i do too] and he asked if i had guns in the home when he converted to some goverment based system. i just grinned and said no comment. i wonder what he entered.

 

[Nateinia]

Not much for the conspiracy either but it's none of their business. I was asked the question when we brought our 1 year old in for her checkup. I asked a dr friend of mine and she said they ask because of children playing with loaded guns. I don't really believe her answer ( think she made it up) but I also don't understand why they need to know that information.

 

[MuleyFever]

I can see where the guns question is relevant in health screenings for one reason and that is mental health. It may not be a mental health screening at the time but asking the question now can get it on record that you own guns. Down the road if you are found to have mental health problems someone knowing you have guns could be good. I am not one that has a problem people knowing I have guns. I have bought new guns so my name would already be associated with gun ownership in whatever system has that info.

I think that we need some kind of system better than what we have to try and keep guns from people that should not have them like people with mental health issues. I think that fighting these kind of controls actually hurts our right to gun ownership because not doing more just increases the odds of another shooting and more outcry for bans and such. I obey the law and do not fear or mind jumping through a few more hoops to get a gun if it helps keep guns from those that should not have them. The main argument is the slippery slope fallacy that eventually it will just lead to too much regulation but I don't think stricter gun control and banning all guns are even on the same slope.

 

[TEmbry]

I'm all for a centralized health record system (but I work in health care). Far too much slips through the cracks that wouldn't have been missed if there was access to health records across the board.

I'm not a tin foil kind of guy that thinks the govt is out to get me either though.

The firearms question is likely mental health related as the new approach for healthcare is a wholistic viewpoint, not segmented into certain disease states. Just cause you are in for high blood pressure, doesn't mean they will ignore your depression and vice versa.

Just say no and move on with your day, life is too short to sweat all the little things.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Pnemonia and annual eval/with digital prostate exam are not mental health visits.

I don't want to argue and hope to stay civil. But my opinions obviously differ.

All returning Veterans.....no guns for them? I heard a California retired LEO was banned for firearm possession over insomnia, which was labeled a mental disorder. Any truth to that?

 

[Ray]

This came up many years ago in pediactrics. It was a recommended question by a national association of doctors to start collecting information due to kids accidentally shooting themselves or others in the home. The intention had nothing to do with mental health - just kids and guns. The CDC was mandated by congress to not collect any firearms data and thus the medicial community started collecting data on its own.

If you spend a few seconds on google you will find the ten or more year old information from the professional groups that started the demand to ask kids about guns in the home. It may take a few days to wade through all the tin foil to get to the facts on the issue.

Now the question has made its way onto a forms for adults. These forms are designed and provided by the professional associations and not the government. Can the government exploit the archived information? yes and they will. But as a CC permit holder its too late for me as I am way too obvious.

 

[Shrek]

This is not your fathers country or even the one you knew just a decade ago.

 

[MuleyFever]

Pnemonia and annual eval/with digital prostate exam are not mental health visits.

This is what I was saying and what I think TEmbry was getting at. So if one is just ignoring their mental health so should the healthcare system? People with mental health issues should be allowed to slip through the system just because they didn't make an appointment specifically for a mental health evaluation?

Anyway, I think Ray had good information and now you know how I feel. Interesting topic though.

 

[Shrek]

Never tell your doctor anything you would want to be kept private and know that anything you say may be used against you in a court.

 

[rayporter]

shrek has a point.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

But there is no x-ray for mental health.....I had to euthanize my dog of 13 years last week There is a hole in my life and home this week. But strip me of my guns? Or temporarily limit my access to firearms? I don't feel like harming anyone.

If I call EAP because my dog is dead and my marriage isn't what I'd hoped it would be.......take my guns then?

I get the intent.

But one of our Small Town physicians had been banging patients in his office for a few years....he gets to check the "Crazy" box on my medical records, therefore I can no longer own a firearm?

 

[rayporter]

man i just dont dare say anything i feel here.

 

[gelton]

I can see where the guns question is relevant in health screenings for one reason and that is mental health. It may not be a mental health screening at the time but asking the question now can get it on record that you own guns. Down the road if you are found to have mental health problems someone knowing you have guns could be good. I am not one that has a problem people knowing I have guns. I have bought new guns so my name would already be associated with gun ownership in whatever system has that info.

I think that we need some kind of system better than what we have to try and keep guns from people that should not have them like people with mental health issues. I think that fighting these kind of controls actually hurts our right to gun ownership because not doing more just increases the odds of another shooting and more outcry for bans and such. I obey the law and do not fear or mind jumping through a few more hoops to get a gun if it helps keep guns from those that should not have them. The main argument is the slippery slope fallacy that eventually it will just lead to too much regulation but I don't think stricter gun control and banning all guns are even on the same slope.

This disqualifies a large % of returning vets who joined with the idea of protecting the very rights that these mental health screenings will take away. The defense department buys more Prozac type drugs than anyone else in the world.

 

[Beendare]

This is typical liberal thought process, focus on the gun part...and not the mentally unstable people part..... and doing something about them.

 

[bbrown]

They asked me this same question at my daughter's first doctors appointment and it caught me completely off guard. My response was " why the hell does that matter?" - after all she was only 2 months old and a far cry from being able to access any of my weapons. Hell she was barely able to keep her eyes open let alone hold her head up or move. The nurse did not take my response very well and my wife was a bit peeved at me for making a bit of a scene but understood my point.

Don't get me wrong - the time has come when I have to be much more careful and diligent about how and where I store my firearms. In the end, that responsibility is mine and mine alone so for them to ask that question at her 2 month check up was absurd. On the other hand, the doctor giving a friendly reminder not to hold the baby while holding a hot cup of coffee in the other hand was much more prudent.

 

[Curtis C]

Just say no and move on with your day, life is too short to sweat all the little things.

That would be a lie that can be used against you in court if you ever had to defend yourself.
If you think thats a simple question that really has no purpose you are wrong IMO, its government intrusion into our personal lives plain and simple.

Foil Hat on I guess.

Never tell your doctor anything you would want to be kept private and know that anything you say may be used against you in a court.

 

[tipsntails7]

Mandatory health screening question "Do you have guns in the home"?

Never tell your doctor anything you would want to be kept private and know that anything you say may be used against you in a court.

Only if it's a threat to you or someone else.

With that said I'm not real fond of anymore letter government agencies asking me that question. I have nothing to hide, but that doesn't mean I need everyone to know everything about me.

 

[mmw194287]

This came up many years ago in pediactrics. It was a recommended question by a national association of doctors to start collecting information due to kids accidentally shooting themselves or others in the home. The intention had nothing to do with mental health - just kids and guns. The CDC was mandated by congress to not collect any firearms data and thus the medicial community started collecting data on its own.

If you spend a few seconds on google you will find the ten or more year old information from the professional groups that started the demand to ask kids about guns in the home. It may take a few days to wade through all the tin foil to get to the facts on the issue.

Now the question has made its way onto a forms for adults. These forms are designed and provided by the professional associations and not the government. Can the government exploit the archived information? yes and they will. But as a CC permit holder its too late for me as I am way too obvious.

Ray is correct here. Nothing to do with mental health or anything like that, nor is it a government program. Like all other data collected, it's just a way for professional associations in the medical field to conduct public health research.

 

[Nateinia]

My issue is ( if it's for mental health)who gets a say if I'm mentally "healthy" enough to have a gun. Me? My wife? Someone who doesn't know me but who hates guns?