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Abstract
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Too many of our patients suffer when bullets maim or kill them or their loved ones. And those not yet personally harmed by guns worry about the potential for future harm presented by the ubiquity of guns in America. Regardless of whether one believes guns hurt people or that people hurt people with guns, we have a public health crisis and health care professionals have an obligation to do what we can to combat it.
Annals of Internal Medicine has raised the alarm about guns since at least 1998 (1–3). More recently, we have published strong recommendations to reduce firearm injury from the American College of Physicians (ACP) (4) and another from the ACP with 7 other health organizations together with the American Bar Association (5). Improvements in public health require careful study. We've published rigorous reviews to help synthesize what is and is not known (6). The dearth of evidence to inform sensible gun regulation led us to solicit original research and work hard to help authors report it accurately so that the most may be learned by others seeking to learn from and build upon the findings (7–17). Firearms have also been the subject of On Being a Doctor essays (18, 19). We've repeatedly called on ourselves and our colleagues to examine the evidence, take action, and raise our voices (20–34). We've cried out that we must use our voices.
Nowhere are our voices more important than in the privacy of the examination room. This is where our work is done, where all the research and learning come together. Of all the times and places where we might speak, this is where our voices stand to do the most immediate good. We must commit to using that time and place to help protect our patients from firearm-related harm...
Language: en |