Few doctors talk to patients about guns; experts say they want that to change [vcstar.com]

Regarding this post about doctors discussing gun safety with their patients,, I wanted to share an experience I had that is somewhat tangential.  I was at the hospital last week for a couple of procedures.  When the nurse did the intake, she asked me if I was suicidal, but the way she asked me was awkward.  She said to me, “You have not felt suicidal, right?  You have not felt like you wanted to harm yourself, correct?”

By placing her conditions on the question, she placed a burden on me to answer in a way that I knew she expected and judged was the more appropriate answer, which negated the whole reason for asking the question.  I know that she meant well, and she was a very caring nurse.  This experience taught me that it is important for nurses to receive training on how to ask these types of questions and how to deal with the answers, even when they are dire.

I think this is wonderful.  I recall how worried I was when my husband brought his recently deceased father’s guns home four years ago.  With my history of depression and suicidal ideation, I did not think that was a good idea.  I asked him to remove them from our home.

And it is good for doctors to know this about their patients who suffer from mental health issues.