Combating the Mindset

A radio news report this morning said there have been three accidental shootings in Latah County recently.  One of them happened when a guy was “cleaning a loaded pistol”.  Yeah, right.

We know about these accidents, why?  Because when the injured went to the hospital for their minor wounds, the people at the hospital call the cops.

I once shot myself right through the weak hand thumb.  I went to the hospital to get the projectile extracted from my thumb.  It was sticking out both ends of the wound.  The thought of calling the cops, I am certain, never entered anyone’s mind at the hospital that day.

OK, class.  This is a test.  WHY did no one at the hospital think of calling the cops in my case, but they automatically called the cops in those other cases?  Hint; why aren’t the cops typically called in on a lawnmower accident, a ladder accident, any time you cut your finger while chopping vegetables, cut your head running into a door, etc?

Answer;  Because those accidents do not involve guns.  We’ve all been conditioned.  If it involves a firearm, call the cops.  No thinking required.  If it doesn’t involve a firearm, well take care of the patient, stupid.  This is a hospital.  If that’s not bigotry, it sure does look like it.

(I shot myself with an arrow, you see.  Flawed wooden arrows can fracture upon launch, and since your hand is right there on the bow, the fractured arrow can be thrust right through your hand)

“Oh, but those gunshots could have been part of a crime” you say.  And that’s my point– even you are programmed.  If a gun is involved, well, crime.  Sure, and someone could have shot me with an arrow while I was threatening them, or that cut you got chopping food could have been done on purpose by your raging spouse, and that contusion on your kid’s head from the bicycle crash might have been caused by you hitting him with a blunt object on purpose, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.   Get the irrational programming (the mindset; gun = crime) ironed out.

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9 thoughts on “Combating the Mindset

  1. I believe that most jurisdictions have laws that require the hospital to call the police over any gunshot wounds, so it may not be that the Dr’s are conditioned as much as just following the law.

  2. Gunshot wound reporting in Washington State:

    Health care providers: none
    Hospitals: notifiable within one month to the DOH Injury and Violence Prevention Program
    Laboratories: no requirements for reporting
    Local health jurisdictions: educate health care providers regarding reporting requirements to the State

    There is no requirement to immediately notify. The DOH requires it for maintenance of their statistical base.

    As a health care provider, I’ve heard it a million times, “You must report a gunshot wound to the police.” NOPE.

    However, if it is part of a suspected CRIME, it should be reported. Most health care providers report them so they don’t have to be responsible for playing detective!

    That said, as I understand it, (I am not a lawyer, and I am not responsible for legal advice!) Reporting crime or filing a Police report when you are a victim or witness is left up to your preference and there are no legal ramifications if you decide not to.

  3. It can happen that someone shoots himself, therefore making his parents liable for a felony. In some states. As long as the projectile exits as well as enters, a suitable lie can be concocted (half because of the authorities, half to spare an ass whooping).

  4. The nose of the camel has long since entered the health care tent, followed by the vast majority of the body of the beast.

    If you bring in a child for treatment of lacerations, contusions, or other bodily injury, if a theoretical “reasonable person” could possibly believe that the injuries were caused by abuse, the physicians and/or nurses are required to segregate the child from the parent(s), and initiate questioning. If they don’t believe the child (“I fell off my bike”), they will call “authorities” (child protection services, police, which ever is required in your state) to report suspected abuse.

    Should they FAIL to do so, they may become criminally liable.

    So it’s not just limited to firearms-caused injuries; the state has intruded into every aspect of health care.

  5. Then there are places where 99.9999% of the gun shot wounds are criminal in nature. My wife worked in two of them, Atlanta and Baltimore, as a physician in training.

    Through her friends I first learned about the relative lack of handgun power. One came up with this: “Before I became I doctor, I thought people who got shot died. Now I know they just go to Grady.” (the county indigent care hospital in Atlanta)

  6. Crap, I thought I had you as I was reading, I assumed you had a slip with a nail gun!

    Yep remember the anti-rights mantra: “Guns are different because they are different!”

    Of course they are anti-freedom, not anti-gun. I once had to have my thumb stitched because of a knife wound. I broke the cardinal rule and was cutting towards myself and the blade slipped and nearly amputated the pad of my left thumb.

    I’m sure the surfs in the UK might have to talk to the local constabulary for a similar patch-up, because the antis won on guns there, and now knives are the new demonic element on that crime-ridden island.

  7. Having worked in an urban public ER, I can report that all GSWs presented are “accidental”. Zero percent of gang shootings and bad hijackings are reported as such. So, yes. The docs are required to call police.

  8. OK, try chewing on this for a while:

    If the shootee chooses not to rat out the shooter, isn’t that his business? Shouldn’t we respect that?
    What if, knowing that the police would be called where they are not wanted, someone refuses to seek treatment for his wounds? What if that person subsequently dies? As a physician, is that what you want? Or would you rather save a life and keep your lip zipped?

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