In the Wall Street Journal, a physician tells us that
Dr. Jerald Winakur views this initiative with skepticism. Suppose a patient answers, “Yes.” Then what? Is there anyone who is not aware the lethality of guns? And if there is such a person, should we expect that his internist would somehow be able to enlighten him? Or, say, the patient says that he has a couple of dozen guns at home. Does the doctor then suggest that maybe he might want to cut back a little and, while he is at it, stop putting so much salt on his food?
The people on the committee that made this recommendation believe, no doubt, that the correct answer to the question is, “no.” And that if a patient answers “yes,” then it is the responsibility of the physician to provide medically sound advice which would implicitly be: get rid of the gun. Or guns. Because owning guns is like smoking cigarettes.
The question is intrusive and meant to stigmatize the ownership of firearms by private citizens and the proper response, if your physician asks it, it to change doctors.
