‘Freedom-loving’ NRA dictates what doctors can say to patients
We’ve heard a lot of rhetoric the last couple of years about the importance of keeping government out of the sacred, private relationship between doctors and their patients.
It was all a bunch of bull-oney.
For instance, the Florida Legislature has now passed a bill that makes it illegal for doctors to ask patients whether they have guns in their home and whether those guns are stored correctly to keep them out of the hands of children. It’s a question that many pediatricians ask as part of their standard spiel, along with ensuring that poisons and medicines are kept out of children’s reach and that swimming pools are monitored.
As Dr. Paul Robinson, a specialist in adolescent medicine, testified in vain to a Florida Senate committee:
“What if I have an adolescent who’s been bullied, who’s not suicidal? I don’t think, under the current bill, I’m entitled to ask him if there’s a gun in the home, or if he’s carried a gun to school, or if he’s thinking of harming someone else with a gun.”
Asking such questions would be against the law.
If you happen to believe that a doctor should not ask such questions, fine. You have the right to tell the physician that it’s none of his or her business. You have the right to change doctors. But you cannot logically argue that it is government’s place to dictate what can and cannot be said between patient and doctor. The fact that such gross intrusions into rights of privacy and free speech come from the allegedly small-government, pro-liberty right isn’t at all surprising.
And then there’s Texas. This week, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill into law that requires women seeking an abortion to first undergo a sonogram. The attending physician is required by law to “describe the fetus, noting the size and condition of limbs and organs.” In addition, the patient must then wait 24 hours after the sonogram is performed before undergoing the abortion. As one person noted, the bill does everything but require the woman to give the fetus a name and schedule its funeral.
“Indeed, this bill is designed to shame women, as if we are daft creatures unable to make personal, private medical decisions without the paternalistic oversight of legislators,” the head of a Texas pro-choice group noted.
Again, these are allegedly small-government conservatives, conservatives dedicated to keeping government out of our private affairs, especially in relationships such as those between a doctor and patient, dictating what must be said and what must not be said in the privacy of a doctor’s office.
– Jay Bookman
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617 comments Add your comment
Joe Mama
May 27th, 2011
8:45 am
GLL — “You really don’t know who those people would be? Maybe that’s the problem.”
Maybe the problem is that *you* expect to set the standard for everyone *else* to live by.
Joe Mama
May 27th, 2011
8:51 am
Citizen — “GLL, how about we take up a collection and fund your move to another country that has no respect for women’s rights and has laws to enforce your religious beliefs?”
I have a boatload of Delta miles, so if he’ll agree to be out of here by Independence Day, I’ll get his ticket for him. Heck, I’ll even make it First Class.
seabeau
May 27th, 2011
8:59 am
Jay as a true liberal as usual has failed to give us the full story! The real issue is that some doctors in FLa.have been refusing patients who failed to respond to these types of questions. The liberal AMA has allways been anti-gun. The AMA in their stats. of childrens death by firearms has allways included the deaths of 18 year old gangbangers,just to inflate the numbers. For the true story of this Fla. law please see the NRA web site.
Joe Mama
May 27th, 2011
9:03 am
Dave R. — “Doggone, I find anyone who speaks for others to be engaged in delusions of grandeur. And a bit collectivist.”
Huh.
Didn’t *you* speak for *him* when you edited and reposted his comment?
Joe Mama
May 27th, 2011
9:03 am
seabeau — “The real issue is that some doctors in FLa.have been refusing patients who failed to respond to these types of questions.”
Aren’t doctors entitled to refuse patients?
independent thinker
May 27th, 2011
9:06 am
Seabeau at 8:59 says “For the true story of this Fla. law please see the NRA web site.”
Why would any right minded person believe anything on that web site given the NRA’s biases and control over most elected representatives in exchange for huge contributions? They have bought the Georgia legislature lock stock and barrel. (excuse the pun). Kinda like a commie saying that the party line must be fact.
Dr. Pangloss
May 27th, 2011
9:15 am
@@
May 26th, 2011
3:06 pm
Come to think of it, the “Do you store your guns correctly?” would imply that parents are daft creatures unable to make personal, private decisions without paternalistic oversight of doctors.
—————–
And the stats on children killed with guns improperly stored show that many are just that.
Dr. Pangloss
May 27th, 2011
9:17 am
Back in the 1950s anyone joining the NRA took a pledge that he/she would have nothing to do with any organization that advocated the violent overthrow of the US government. In the 2000s the head of the NRA openly says that it would be legit to do just.
From patriotic to subversive in about 50 years.
Who Is John Galt?
May 27th, 2011
9:20 am
And for those on the left, pro choice means the right to abortion on demand but not school vouchers for their kids.
seabeau
May 27th, 2011
9:20 am
Jay!! If any of these people do go the the NRA-ILA web site guess what else they will find out about? The BATFE has been caught smuggling guns into Mexico!! Why? To make the NRA types look bad? Who knows? Mr. Holder and Traver both so far have refused to respond to a sub-committe questions concerning this issue. The guns used in a recent murder of an American agent in Mexico has been traced to this fiasco. Our present administration is filled with radicals and liars.
GT
May 27th, 2011
9:23 am
“Refused service”, is that the phase conservatives are hanging their hats on now days?
Snafu
May 27th, 2011
9:24 am
But wait, I thought these “Teacrappers” wanted less government intrusion! But it seems like the gang of theives they elected are pushing more gov regulations that will cost in the end. Louisiana, like Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, etc are a..ss backwards. The majority of these voters are too damn stupid to know when they are being used. They keep voting the same old bunch of thieves back into office time and time again.. Democrats no different.
The Republicans think their laws cannot be repealed. Wow! talk about ideology. These laws are for the good of the corporations and nothing less while the arrogantly stupid Americans sit by and let it all happen because they are so party loyal. Even if the bastards are dead wrong these idiots will vote straight party ticket. NATHAN DEAL..Georgia just love their crooks. “IF YOU WANT TO COMMIT A CRIME COME TO GEORGIA” The Crooks are running the Legislature.
Richard L
May 27th, 2011
9:30 am
Both of those bills are STATE bills – and state government is fundamentally different from federal government. The federal government is powered by, and (more importantly) limited by the federal Constitution. States are not. They are limited by state constitutions, which vary dramatically. States can get away with conduct that would be totally unacceptable from the federal government. This is a GOOD thing.
independent thinker
May 27th, 2011
9:39 am
and now Richard L said the true Repub southern vore srategysince Nixon:
“”"States can get away with conduct that would be totally unacceptable from the federal government. This is a GOOD thing.”"” Thank god for the Civil Rights Act and fourteenth amendment so that this strategy is limited to pinheads who do not believe in the US Constitution’s limitations on states to prevent exactly the kind of violations advocated by the NRA- next these second amendment nutjobs will want to get in your bedroom and advocate state laws giving you the right to use guns for sex acts.
LA VERGA
May 27th, 2011
9:49 am
NRA is run by a bunch of paranoid racists what do you expect.
williebkind
May 27th, 2011
9:59 am
Is this a ploy by progressives to not talk about the important issues of today–LIKE JOBS!
Joe Mama
May 31st, 2011
12:55 pm
Galt — “And for those on the left, pro choice means the right to abortion on demand but not school vouchers for their kids.”
If you want to choose your kid’s school, you can do so TODAY.
Just don’t stick your hand into my wallet in a misguided attempt to get someone else to pay for it. If you want your kid in private school, then man up and figure out how to pay for it yourself.