Should Physicians Ask Patients If They Own a Gun?

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Gunshot injuries are a significant public health problem with enormous medical costs associated with them—a 1999 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the per gunshot injury cost of treatment and follow-up was in excess of $17,000, most of which is born by taxpayers. So should physicians be allowed to ask patients about whether they own a gun? It’s a question that has stirred debate in Florida. For more information see Psychiatric News, http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10/15.1.full