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I just got this from my uncle in Louisiana. May or may not be an internet rumor, but worth thinking about.

Do you have a gun in your House? When I had surgery and spent 10 days in the hospital for what should have been an overnight stay the insurance company kicked me out. I had home nurse visits for two weeks and was asked if I had guns in the house. I respond that if I did I would not tell them. So the below has some merit. FYI, I am passing this along...there are comments from two other people that have also been asked if they keep guns in the house. The nurse just kind of slipped it in along with all the other regular questions. I told her I refused to answer because it was against the law to ask. Everyone, whether you have guns or not, should give a neutral answer so they have no idea who does and who doesn't. My doctor asked me if I had guns in my house and also if any were loaded. I, of course, answered yes to both questions. Then he asked why I kept a loaded gun close to my bed. I answered that my son, who is a certified gun instructor and also works for Homeland Security, advised me that an unloaded, locked up gun is no protection against criminal attack. The Government now requires these questions be asked of people on Medicare, and probably everyone else. Just passing this along for your information: I had to visit a doctor other than my regular doctor when my doctor was on vacation. One of the questions on the form I had to fill out was: Do you have any guns in your house? My answer was None of your business!! So it is out there! It is either an insurance issue or government intervention. Either way, it is out there and the second the government gets into your medical records (as they want to under Obamacare) it will become a major issue. Please pass this on to all the other retired guys and gun owners... Thanks, from a Vietnam Vet and retired Police Officer: I had a doctors appointment at the local VA clinic yesterday and found out something very interesting that I would like to pass along. Before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions: 1. Did I feel stressed? 2. Did I feel threatened? 3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone? The nurse then informed me, that if I had answered yes to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security. Looks like they are going after the vets first. Other gun people like retired law enforcement will probably be next. Then when they go after the civilians, what argument will they have? Be forewarned and be aware. The Obama administration has gone on record as considering veterans and gun owners potential terrorists. Whether you are a gun owner, veteran or not, YOU"VE BEEN WARNED ! If you know veterans and gun owners, please pass this on to them. Be very cautious about what you say and to whom!!

I always question forwarded information. Things that immediately jump out at me:
1) Why would it be illegal for your doctor to ask you if you own a firearm?

This post seems to be misinformation designed to spread. I'm beginning to see this more and more. The information makes us angry and feel passionately, but it's really not based on any fact. It also seems to be much more effective to spread non-truths than speak the truth.

Here's another link to it : http://fellowshipoftheminds.com/2012/10 ... own-a-gun/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And here: http://gulfcoastgunforum.com/archive/in ... -2895.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Government now requires these questions be asked of people on Medicare, and probably everyone else.

That sound right to you? It doesn't sound right to me.

Per Snopes, here is the origin:

This March 2012 item combines a claim that Medicare regulations require doctors to ask patients whether they keep guns in their houses with a 2009 piece about VA patients' being reported to Homeland Security and losing their concealed carry
permits for answering "yes" to any one of three diagnostic questions.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/med ... 8bQuSmg.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In the former case, although some doctors (particularly pediatricians) may ask their patients whether they have guns at home, there is no provision of Medicare regulations that requires them to do so; it's purely an individual initiative on the part of various doctors.

It's been years now, but I did have a Peds doc ask about guns in the house once when I had our youngest son at the doc. I responded by asking her if she participated in a very personal sexual act.. she declined to respond, and understood at that point why I asked.. I said I apologize for asking a personal question I had no right to ask.

She was actually a good doc, and we were happy to have her.... This was in Oregon, 2002..

I just switched doctors about a month ago. Nobody asked me any non-medical questions.

From our beloved Obama Care Tax Bill, Pages 766 & 767 of H.R.3590
The first thing that caught my attention was the words "Lawfully" and the second item was why the Second Amendment reference in the "health care bill" at all? We all know how the Federal Government feels about the 2nd Amendment. Can they ask about "unlawfully" owned firearms or query to see if unlawful? I have no opinion either direction as I do not trust the Federal Government and I will not be participating at all..

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111h ... 590enr.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘‘(c) PROTECTION OF SECOND AMENDMENT GUN RIGHTS.—
‘‘(1) WELLNESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—A wellness and health promotion activity implemented under subsection (a)(1)(D) may not require the disclosure or collection of any information relating to—
‘‘(A) the presence or storage of a lawfully-possessed firearm or ammunition in the residence or on the property of an individual; or
‘‘(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition by an individual.
‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION.—None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used for the collection of any information relating to—
‘‘(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition;
‘‘(B) the lawful use of a firearm or ammunition; or
‘‘(C) the lawful storage of a firearm or ammunition.

I have been asked by the pediatrician but not any other doctors.

If a doctor asked me if I had guns in my home and would say two things - it's none of your business and you just lost a customer.

Today was semi-annual Dr. day in Tyler:

We saw a Dermatologist who couldn't wait to tell us about his new CHL and handguns, an Oriental Opthomologist who couldn't care less about guns and my Orthopedic surgeon who asked about our summer in Montana and said my knee was doing fine.

None of these medical facilities were 30.06 posted; however, it appeared, in passing from the highway, that there was a big new sign in the Jacksonville Goodwill store window.

E.Marquez wrote:It's been years now, but I did have a Peds doc ask about guns in the house once when I had our youngest son at the doc. I responded by asking her if she participated in a very personal sexual act.. she declined to respond, and understood at that point why I asked.. I said I apologize for asking a personal question I had no right to ask.
She was actually a good doc, and we were happy to have her.... This was in Oregon, 2002..

In 2002 the CDC released several studies that had to do with gun ownership and children. I understand why a pediatrician might try to educate parents. If everyone practiced appropriate safety around children, we wouldn't have such statistics.

Course, trampolines are dangerous to kids too. I'm not offended by a discussion about them.

Doctors can ask me whatever they want that might facilitate a reasonable discussion. I can choose to not answer if I don't want to.

I know that when I would take my father-in-law to BAMC they would ask " 1. Did he feel depressed? 2. Did I feel threatened by anyone in the home? 3. Did I feel like doing harm to himself or anyone else?" (a variation on the OP's note) I knew the first time I heard the questions exactly where they could head and I would always take a deep breath....I wouldn't let him talk politics on the way TO the clinic I also had a code worked out with my husband that I would text him if I felt his Dad had put the guns in his home at risk so my husband could run over and at least get the family heirlooms out before anyone else got there.

There were gun questions on a general questionnaire that my daughter was supposed to answer by herself on her last checkup. There were other questions about how she felt about her weight and was anyone bullying her. When she got to the gun questions she asked me how she should answer. I've always told her that things like that were no one else's business, but she didn't want to lie to her doctor. I should have just had her leave them blank, but told her go ahead and say, no, that there weren't any in the house.

Many of the electronic health records have this type of question built in. These records are government mandated and doctors that do not adapt to these records are penalized. They also want to know your ethnicity, your sexuality (gay or straight or whatever). All this is to be datamined by big brother and perhaps even NSA. Hopefully your doctor is putting NA in each of those boxes but don't for one second believe that the government mandate is not out there to track down this kind of info. And who knows where it goes. Many electronic health records are stored on the cloud. Easily reachable by NSA. Don't tell your doctor anything that you think should be confidential as even if the doctor says nothing it is datamined. Next will be microphones at confession to record your when you go to church. Or perhaps I am just paranoid. We know that NSA follows this forum.

Oldgringo wrote:Today was semi-annual Dr. day in Tyler:

We saw a Dermatologist who couldn't wait to tell us about his new CHL and handguns, an Oriental Opthomologist who couldn't care less about guns and my Orthopedic surgeon who asked about our summer in Montana and said my knee was doing fine.

None of these medical facilities were 30.06 posted; however, it appeared, in passing from the highway, that there was a big new sign in the Jacksonville Goodwill store window.

as a side note http://www.answers.com/topic/oriental Now if you ask an Asian they don't seem to care.

rotor wrote:Many of the electronic health records have this type of question built in. These records are government mandated and doctors that do not adapt to these records are penalized. They also want to know your ethnicity, your sexuality (gay or straight or whatever). All this is to be datamined by big brother and perhaps even NSA. Hopefully your doctor is putting NA in each of those boxes but don't for one second believe that the government mandate is not out there to track down this kind of info. And who knows where it goes. Many electronic health records are stored on the cloud. Easily reachable by NSA. Don't tell your doctor anything that you think should be confidential as even if the doctor says nothing it is datamined. Next will be microphones at confession to record your when you go to church. Or perhaps I am just paranoid. We know that NSA follows this forum.

Oh boy. I'll help. Or try to. I don't know if this will make it better or worse:
Doctors are encouraged to go to electronic records by 2015. That's true.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no "universal" means for storing patient data. That is, there are many many different providers of software, but no universal standard. There is no central database on everyone. There are lots of little databases in different forms.

Yes, questions can be personal and may offend some people. Many of the personal questions such as ethnicity and sexuality may actually have a bearing on your health. After all, if you're American Indian, you're more predisposed to certain conditions than other parts of the population. And yea, your sexual lifestyle plays a part in your health risks too. Offended? Yea, we don't like to talk about it. Relevant medical information? Absolutely. Do you have to answer? No.

Records can be stored in many forms. They can be stored on local storage in doctors offices, they can be stored on remote storage, they can be stored on cloud storage. Personally, the loss of my paper medical records could be a problem and I'd be happy if my doctor would choose to store them digitally with a secure remote backup.. Yes, even cloud-based! I keep electronic copies of my dogs vet records as well as my own. It's massively useful when visiting a new vet or doctor to have it all with you in one shot.

There is substantial and significant legislation around how your electronic health data can be stored by companies. It's non-trivial. You can't just pump it to the cloud and be HIPAA compliant. Our legislators have shown good faith there. Course, we know that anything that is electronic can be accessed... Just like paper records.

Look I think.. well... I know that the NSA is listening. If the federal government really wanted to know my ethnicity, sexuality, or if I own a gun - there are much easier ways to obtain that information than from covertly stealing electronic health records. When those records start containing DNA tracing - or other information that can be used for national security, I'll wear the tin-foil hat with you, but until then, it's just not something that I'm going to worry about.

"I said I apologize for asking a personal question I had no right to ask."

I wish my memmory was better... I know I'm going to want to use that some day.