government

Florida lawmakers send "don't ask" gun bill to governor

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 23, 2011

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The Florida Legislature in late April approved a bill that would discourage physicians from asking patients about gun ownership.

The measure would refer physicians to the Florida Board of Medicine for possible sanctions if they ask patients harassing questions about gun ownership, enter unnecessary information about gun ownership in patient medical records or discriminate against patients who own guns. The Florida House approved the bill 88-30 on April 26. The Senate followed on April 28 by approving it 27-10. At this article's deadline, Gov. Rick Scott had not said whether he would sign it into law.

The Florida Medical Assn. negotiated a compromise version of the bill with state lawmakers and gun rights advocates. The original bill would have fined physicians up to $5 million and sentenced them to up to five years in prison for asking about patients' gun ownership, refusing to treat patients who won't answer such questions or entering gun ownership information into any record.

The amended bill would allow physicians to ask patients questions about gun ownership, enter such information into a record if it is medically relevant and choose which patients to see for reasons other than gun ownership.

However, the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Florida chapter opposed both bills because they are concerned that the legislation would discourage physicians from counseling parents about gun safety.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/05/23/gvbf0523.htm.

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