Doctors share gun stories, demand action after NRA tells them to 'stay in their lane'

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

Doctors share gun stories, demand action after NRA tells them to 'stay in their lane'

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
Updated 2109 GMT (0509 HKT) November 8, 2018

(CNN)Two signs of the times: another mass shooting and more Twitter outrage. This time, though, the barbs over social media came from the medical community in response to a tweet from the National Rifle Association.

The piling-on began after the NRA tweeted on Wednesday a link to an article from its Institute of Legislative Action. The article, titled "Surprise: Physician Group Rehashes Same Tired Gun Control Policies," was promoted with these words: "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves."

Link to tweet

The tweet went out hours before a gunman walked into the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, and killed at least 12 people before turning his gun on himself.

The NRA's tweet had more than 1,300 likes by mid-Thursday. But it also riled up people inside and outside the medical field, who replied by the thousands.

"Oh, was I supposed to consult the NRA when my elderly patient with dementia accidentally shot themself holstering a gun they legally owned?" @DrMFraggle asked. "Because I was under the impression I was to consult general surgery and social services. My bad. :/ Gun control: not just about young people."

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/08/health/nra-tweet-doctors-react/index.html

[guillaumeb]

1. The NRA is fighting against reality.

How much Russian money did Wayne LaPierre take?

[Raven123]

2. The NRA doesn't treat gun violence victims Doctors (and other health workers) do.

Preventing gun violence IS their lane.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

3. I'll leave this here

Medical Errors Are Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-05-03/medical-errors-are-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-the-us

Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer, causing at least 250,000 deaths every year, according to an analysis out Tuesday indicating that patient safety efforts fall far short.
...
The new estimate is drawn from more-recent studies indicating the number may be much higher. For instance, a report published in the journal Health Affairs in 2011 calculated that just over 1 percent of hospital patients die each year because of medical errors. When applied to the more than 35 million people hospitalized each year, Makary and Daniel say, this would "translate into 400,201 deaths per year, more than four times the original IOM report estimate."
...
Dr. Ashish Jha, a patient-safety expert and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, agreed that many researchers will be temped to debate which of the estimates are the most accurate.

"It doesn't matter," he says, "because all these numbers are so big. They're a reminder of how big the problem is and how little is being done to address it."

[Cousin Dupree]

4. Why are you leaving this here?

[Tribalceltic]

5. I'll just leave this part of it here

"It's fair to say that this number is controversial," says Dr. Robert Wachter, a professor of medicine at UCSF School of Medicine. "I wouldn't take this number to the bank."

[lostnfound]

6. When the NRA starts paying the costs of al, of this intense, unnecessary medical care and rehab

Then they can have an opinion about the doctors’ views.

As it is, the NRA shows zero degree of responsibility for their own “hobby”.