"THE DOCTOR ASKED YOU WHAT?!!!"
I heard the callers last week on the radio talking about the doctor quizzing their kids and I said "They must be exaggerating just a bit." I am an educated woman with a Masters Degree in Computer Information Systems. I am a leader in Cub Scouts for my community and active with the school and local FFA. Not someone you would consider a hazard to be around my own children. What happened this week took me by complete surprise.
I took my children to the Green Meadows clinic in Columbia, MO (A college town where they like to rip the American flag stickers off of my SUV and leave me nasty notes about driving a big truck). The boys were getting their sports physicals, but there wasn't very much physical about it. While I was in the room she quizzed them about how much time they spend on line, did we have guns in the house, did we exercise. I was so proud of my children when they answered the guns question. We are avid hunters and my oldest boy (14) just got his Hunter Certification. He was the first one in the class to score 100% on the test that night and he won a nice digital game camera. Both of the boys explained the rules of safe gun handling and that all the guns are kept in a designated safe room with the ammo locked up.
What really bothers me is what happened after she took my oldest boy to another room to complete his physical. I figured this would be the part where he stripped and got checked and she asked him all the sex questions she thought he would be embarrassed to talk about in front of me. What I found out later was that she asked him questions like this: How much do you drink with mom and dad? How often do they buy you alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs? Do you smoke? Does mom and dad smoke? Do they use drugs? Do you know anyone who does? What are their names? Does mom or dad talk on the cell phone while they are driving? Do they eat while driving? Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. (Please note the order that was asked in. My son noticed and mentioned the tone of it to me.) Have you had sex with a boyfriend or girlfriend? Do you plan on having sex soon?
I feel betrayed. I have trusted this woman with my health care and that of my children for the last three years. I am a diabetic and I can't just switch doctors because most of them in this area won't take me as a patient. When I switched three years ago I had to pick Columbia, a one hour drive, just to find one that would see me. I am livid, but I don't know if I can raise a fuss. If I make a racket about the questions, she will turn me in the DFS because I obviously must be hiding something that I don't want the kids to tell. Are they going to come investigate me and take my children away because I answered a phone call from a client while I was on the way to her office? If I don't say anything the doctors in that clinic will continue this invasion of privacy.
After talking to some of my friends here in town and doing some research on the internet, I have found that the doctors are following the prescribed AAP (American Association of Pediatricians) set of questions. The AMA (American Medical Association) has instructed all of their doctors to ask the questions about the guns and then to file reports with the police on gun owners who admit to having guns. I am outraged! These are my personal affairs and doctors should not be bringing political agendas into the examination room! How dare they judge me and my lifestyle! I am at once ashamed that I am being profiled as an alcoholic, drug addicted, and careless mother with an arsenal of weapons at my disposal, but then I am infuriated that someone who knows nothing about my life has decided to convict me before bothering to find out anything.
The AMA and the AAP seem to have decided that at some point we moved to Russia and our children are now informants for big brother. This is ridiculous. We need to speak up and put an end to this right now!!!!!!! If your doctor asks your kids these questions, raise a stink…a loud one, preferably in the waiting room so that all the other patients can hear what they are about to face and decide if they want to endure this invasion of privacy. Then find a new doctor. Let all of your friends know about this treatment. We have to stand up for ourselves before they label us all as alcoholic drug addicts who are not able to take care of our kids and take them away to be raised by the state and whatever left wing whacko they decide can provide the best environment for them.
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