Medicine's role in disarming America

It’s a situation that’s been going on for several years: doctors asking patients about gun ownership. A physician who also happens to be a heavily decorated military veteran says you don’t have to dig deep to find out why.

The issue of doctors asking patients about guns and gun ownership was recently brought up in an article for LifeZette. In that case, the focus was on whether gun ownership is being viewed as a new mental illness.

“This is nothing new,” Tennessee-based Dr. Omar Hamada tells OneNewsNow. “It was really started by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which over the years has become a more and more liberal association, as have several other medical organizations.”

According to the pediatrician quoted in the LifeZette story, the question about gun ownership – which she describes as “invasive” – is requested by the AAP and appears on intake forms for new patients and regular checkups.

Hamada – a 14-year veteran who served with U.S. Army Special Forces – has similar misgivings about the line of questioning being asked of pediatricians.

“… I’m very familiar with weapons and guns and what they can do to people,” he explains. “But I think that the way things have developed with the American medical societies, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and others, has taken things way too far.”

OneNewsNow asked Hamada what happens if and when a patient acknowledges or confirms gun ownership.

“We don’t know,” he responds. “We have this thing called HIPAA but it is waivable in certain situations and it is supposedly to protect the patient. But other people see it – such as billing agencies, insurance companies, the physician and their staff – and it’s actually not as tight as we would like to think it is.”

It’s one thing, says Hamada, if a physician is trying to assess risk and really wants to educate a patient on risk factors that are unnecessary. But it’s completely different, he adds, if it’s more of a political agenda meant to sway patients and actually force patients’ hands toward abandoning gun ownership because of liberal agendas.

“And that’s really where most of this is coming from,” he argues. “This is more of a liberal agenda to disarm America, rather than a true concern for patient safety, in my opinion. But if you look at how the questions are being asked and by whom and the people pushing this, I think that sort of supports that opinion.”

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