Thursday, May 5, 2016

I Lied!


Basically, I'm an honest person. You ask me a question, I'll give you the best answer that I know  how. That said, I lied yesterday.

I am switching internists. My old doctor, nice (and competent) though she was, never was on time. It drove me crazy to be the first or second person on the schedule and she was still late. So I switched.

When you are establishing a relationship with a new physician, they ask a lot of questions. Are you married? Who is your emergency contact? Are your parents still alive? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera to quote Yul Brenner in The King and I.

So I am sitting in the examining room with the medical office assistant and she is going down the list of questions. She gets to a few she called "safety questions". You know where I am going with this.

She asked, "Are there any guns in the home?" Rather than giving an evasive answer of "no comment" or asking "why do you want to know?", I gave a clear, definitive "NO".

I freely lied and I would do it again.

I was confirmed in my decision to lie when as the doctor was asking more medical history questions he stopped and apologized saying they were due to ObamaCare. I said I don't have ObamaCare and he said they still force us to ask them. He was an experienced physician who had been practicing for many years and you could tell the bureaucratic oversight of his profession was driving him nuts. I know and he knows that somewhere some faceless bureaucrat sitting in some Federal agency will be data mining my responses.

As I joked with the Complementary Spouse later in the evening, I said we don't have any guns in the home - we have firearms. On a serious note, I can't tell you how to answer this question. I am firmly in the camp of it is none of their business. If you have to lie to protect your privacy and your Second Amendment rights, is it really a lie. Maybe yes, maybe no but you'll have to let your own conscience be your guide.

20 comments:

  1. None of their business is right. Sigh...

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  2. You did not lie. Doctor's office and the gov't have no need to know if you have any weapons of any kind. None of their business.

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  3. Haven't done that as my doctor has anti-gun control signs and copies of the Rifleman in the waiting room but I think if the government is minimally competent, they already know, what with the background checks, CCW, NRA membership, web traffic. So I think I favor making the doctor uncomfortable with the collaboration.

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  4. Haven't done that as my doctor has anti-gun control signs and copies of the Rifleman in the waiting room but I think if the government is minimally competent, they already know, what with the background checks, CCW, NRA membership, web traffic. So I think I favor making the doctor uncomfortable with the collaboration.

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    1. I have no doubt the government knows I have guns. I have both a NC CHP and a curios and relics FFL. But I trust health care bureaucrats less than I trust the BATFE and that's saying something.

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  5. I think the correct answer is "Why, do you have some for sale?"

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  6. I think the correct answer is "Why, do you have some for sale?"

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  7. I am going to say, "We do not have one gun in our house." (totally true)

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    1. Agreed. Say "I don't have A gun at home."

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  8. I hope the doctor doesn't come across this blog posting somehow!

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  9. HOW is the doc "FORCED" to ask the question outside Obamacare? Tell me.

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  10. I'd do the same thing. It reminds me of how I answer the race questions whenever they ask. You know where they ask you your ethnicity? I always answer or check "other" and fill in "American" as my response. I still haven't figured out why a govt that's supposed to be...color blind and has it...figured out and solved in their military ranks for the most part, continues to ask these BS questions. On second thought, yes I have (figured that out) and would add that more need to do the same thing. Especially if you want to change...something. And besides...the govt lies in everything they do.

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  11. On the medical side, I am required to fill out that form but I am neatly handwriting below that question "Provider refuses to ask." Nobody has called me on it...yet.

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  12. This blog author has now lied on a government document. Here's hoping nothing ever comes of that, as falsification of a government document carries a damn stiff felony penalty, with fines and serious jail time, and is a slam-dunk for any prosecutor willing to take such a case before a jury. Usually such cases are made against people who work with government paperwork, such as state purchasing agents or administrators of state agencies, but who is to say that this existing criminal statute might not be applied in this case?

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    1. Sorry, Mikee. It was not a government document and I don't have ObamaCare or any other type of government issued health insurance. My doc is in a private practice so you can take your scare tactics and shove them.

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  13. You're mistaken and clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Why do you try to sound so definitive? What was the purpose of your comment? Also, by spewing that nonsense on this blog you just lied on a government document and falsification of a government document carries a damn stiff felony penalty, with fines and serious jail time, and is a slam-dunk for any prosecutor willing to take such a case before a jury. (See what I did there?)

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  14. My doc asks as well, because they have to, but since we know each other well (we deer hunt together), his usual phrasing is "Any new guns in the house since last time you came in? Still refusing to sell that Remington 700?"

    Best,
    JB

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  15. I am a faculty member at a major medical school and teaching hospital. This gun question began appearing on our intake forms for the primary care physicians about 10 years ago, and was prompted by the AMA's desire to re-frame gun violence as a public health issue. A clever subversion. When I was asked this question, I refused to answer. An answer, one way or another became a condition that had to be fulfilled in order to get medical service. In itself, that was bad enough, but HIPAA came along and gave everyone a false sense of security and privacy. I found out first hand that this is a lie. I would urge everyone to look up 'Business Partnership Agreement' within the context of HIPAA. Also look up a company called Trover Solutions. If your healthcare institution has partnered with these guys, then Trover Solutions HAS your medical records. Further, they can hand them to the next party (the .gov?) under the same BPA rules. You'll never know.
    Here's the takehome message: Never, ever, ever tell ANY healthcare provider ANYTHING you would not want the government to know. "In a time of war, the truth is so precious, that it must be protected by a vanguard of lies" - Churchill

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    1. As my wife, The Complementary Spouse, has long said, computerization of medical records really isn't for improving medical care. It is to enable data mining.

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