Doctors often ask their patients about risky behaviors like smoking, drinking or riding in cars without seat belts. But they may be too reticent when it comes to one potential threat to their patients’ health: firearms.
A doctor should certainly ask a patient about gun access if he or she expresses suicidal or violent intent, write Garen J. Wintemute, Marian E. Betz and Megan L. Ranney in a recent paper in Annals of Internal Medicine. But firearm screening may also be appropriate for patients with certain risk factors for gun violence, like alcohol abuse or a history of violent acts, and for children and older people with cognitive impairments.
A doctor can teach patients about safe gun storage, or alert family members or law enforcement if a suicidal person has a gun. But according to Dr. Wintemute and his co-authors, doctors often fail to raise the issue. Some may believe inquiring about firearms is illegal; in fact, no federal or state law bars doctors from raising medically relevant questions about guns. A Florida law says doctors “should refrain” from asking about guns and may not enter information about them into medical records, but offers an exception when information is relevant to the patient’s health or safety.
Other doctors may simply be unfamiliar with principles of safe gun ownership. That could be solved by addressing firearm safety in medical schools and at continuing medical education conferences, Dr. Wintemute said. Very few medical schools now teach students how to talk to patients about guns, he added.
More research is also needed to help doctors screen and educate their patients. Such research has been scarce in part because of insufficient federal funding, but several studies have shown that doctors can help encourage gun safety. One study found that education from pediatricians significantly increased parents’ use of cable locks for their firearms.
As the editorial board has written, gun violence is a public health issue. It’s only natural for doctors to play a role in addressing it.