Physicians, Patients, and Firearms
Authors: Garen J. Wintemute, Marian E. Betz, Megan L. Ranney
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2016)

Letters20 December 2016Physicians, Patients, and FirearmsGaren J. Wintemute, MD, MPH, Marian E. Betz, MD, MPH, and Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPHGaren J. Wintemute, MD, MPHFrom UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado; Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island., Marian E. Betz, MD, MPHFrom UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado; Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island., and Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPHFrom UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado; Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L16-0544 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail IN RESPONSE:Dr. Sklaroff suggests that we advocate asking about firearms without any prior effort to establish either the need for such questions from the physician's perspective or their reasonableness from the patient's point of view. He is incorrect. We discuss these preliminaries in our article and elsewhere (1) and use that approach in our clinical work. We wholeheartedly agree with the importance of nonpejorative phrasing—again, a point we have made repeatedly. Perhaps he sees something pejorative in, "Are there any firearms kept in or around your home?" We do not.We take issue with his use of the loaded ...References1. Betz ME, Wintemute GJ. Physician counseling on firearm safety: a new kind of cultural competence. JAMA. 2015;314:449-50. [PMID: 26241594] doi:10.1001/jama.2015.7055 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Wintemute GJ. The epidemiology of firearm violence in the twenty-first century United States. Annu Rev Public Health. 2015;36:5-19. [PMID: 25533263] doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122535 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado; Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M15-2905. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoYes, You Can: Physicians, Patients, and Firearms Garen J. Wintemute , Marian E. Betz , and Megan L. Ranney Physicians, Patients, and Firearms Robert B. Sklaroff Metrics 20 December 2016Volume 165, Issue 12Page: 893KeywordsDisclosureFirearm injuriesMedical risk factorsPatient advocacySuicide ePublished: 20 December 2016 Issue Published: 20 December 2016 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2016 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...