NRA-Pushed Provision Banning Doctors From Discussing Guns In Obamacare ‘Seems So Strange

[Purveyor]

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s The Situation Room Tuesday to discuss a new and surprising provision in the Affordable Care Act pushed by the strangest of bedfellows: the National Rifle Association. The new provision is only five lines and would ban physicians from being able to document their patients’ responses to questions about guns.

Blitzer asked Gupta how guns ended up in Obamacare. “That seems so strange,” he said. Gupta noted that it was actually Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who got the provision into the Affordable Care Act. Gupta pointed out “it doesn’t specifically forbid doctors from asking patients about guns but it’s more about them being able to document it, being able to use this for research purposes.”

According to Gupta, the NRA’s position would be that they don’t want patients discriminated against for owning guns. “There’s no history of that ever happening,” he quipped, but that’s their argument. People opposed to the ban would say that asking patients’ about guns in their homes is “how we make things more safe,” similar to a physician asking whether a family has a pool in their home.

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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/wolf-blitzer-nra-pushed-provision-banning-doctors-from-discussing-guns-in-obamacare-seems-so-strange/

[onehandle]

1. Not strange. Paranoid. nt

[global1]

2. So You Mean To Tell Me If A MD Has A Patient That He Suspects Could Be A Mental Case....

that might be problematic with respect to violence - that the NRA is making it difficult for a MD to engage in a discussion with the patient about guns and can't document that and alert the authorities that this person might be a threat?

[PADemD]

3. Doctor's Questions

If a doctor is treating a patient for depression, the doctor should be able to ask if there is a gun in the home.

[kestrel91316]

7. If there are any people in the home with mental issues OR any children in the home,

IMHO it's a physician's DUTY to discuss the matter and document the discussion.

Basically this provision requires physicians to omit mention of a legitimate discussion, and that is requiring them to commit medical malpractice. This provision WILL be found illegal if passed.

[aikoaiko]

4. Inspired when a doctor terminated services to child b/c a parent didn't answer a question about guns

on the intake.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136063523/florida-bill-could-muzzle-doctors-on-gun-safety

Subsequently FL law prevented doctors from asking about guns, but that was blocked by a Federal judge.

The law was a shitty response to a doctor's shitty decision to terminate medical services because a parent chose to keep some information private.

I'm sure the ACA provision is a related attempt at privacy.

[Erose999]

5. The kind of shit you'd expect from terrorists like the NRA.

[DanTex]

6. It's paranoia and also an attempt to disrupt research into gun violence.

One of the many fronts of the NRA's war against humans is scientific. In response to some studies finding that, umm, guns kill people, the NRA got Republicans in congress to cut funding for gun violence research. Their objective is to prevent scientists from collecting data that would allow them to make concrete recommendations for steps to reduce gun violence.