The NRA told doctors to 'stay in their lane.' Doctors aren't having it.
#ThisisMyLane
The National Rifle Association has a bone to pick with "anti-gun doctors" (what) and their collective desire to stop pulling bullets out of patients. They don't know what they're talking about, the NRA contends, when they argue in favor of common sense gun control.
"Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane," the Wednesday tweet read. "Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves."
SEE ALSO: Doctor: Asking Patients About Gun Ownership Is a Healthcare Issue
The tweet then links to an NRA website article deriding a position paper from the American College of Physicians (ACP). The paper lays out a number of policy recommendations that, its abstract notes, "the evidence suggests will be effective in reducing deaths and injuries from firearm-related violence."
The NRA takes issue with the fact that the paper's authors didn't consult with "firearms experts or lawyers." I'm not personally well-versed enough in these issues to respond to that charge, though I feel like a paper — even a policy paper — from a national health care organization is probably not in the wrong for focusing on what doctors think.
What's important here, however, is how doctors responded. Many did not take kindly to the NRA's assertion that health care providers should "stay in their lane." They were quick to remind the NRA that guns and the wounds they cause are very much in a doctor's "lane."
And so, a hashtag was born: #ThisisMyLane. I may not have a strong enough grasp of the complexities here to rebuff the specifics of that NRA article. But the health care providers sharing their gun violence horror stories here are all the convincing anyone should need that gun control is an issue that sorely needs to be addressed.
Hey @NRA, so a 4 year old comes into the ER with a GSW to the chest, but it hasn't crossed the midline. Please inform me, a pediatric intensive care physician, what is the trauma protocol for this? I'm confused since this is not my lane. #ThisisMyLane
— pachec (@pachec) November 10, 2018
.@NRAsays docs should “stay in [our] lane.
My lane is a son shot walking down the street with his mother. I opened his chest and repaired his heart after it stopped, but I couldn't prevent the brain damage from lack of oxygen during CPR#ThisisMyLane . What’s yours?— Stephanie Bonne (@scrubbedin) November 8, 2018
@nra This is the chest x-ray of my 15 year old patient shot by an R.I.P. bullet, how many of those fragments could you find and fix? #ThisisMyLane
https://t.co/zIUtjA5JG8 pic.twitter.com/i4LG83WUEd— Ellie Curtis (@elliecurtismd) November 10, 2018
Oops @NRA - forgot to consult you on that gunshot victim I treated. Turns out, THEY came into MY lane, and I heard YOU were driving. Next time, what’s your number? I’ll call you to deliver the bad news, since clearly you claim this lane as YOURS. #Docs4GunSense #ThisISMyLane
— Brandon Morshedi, MD, DPT (@bbmorshedi) November 10, 2018
My kids’ pediatrician sent me a picture of her altered water bottle in her (parked!) car. Considering that in 2015 alone, 2,824 children died by gunshot and 13,723 others were injured, this is very much her lane. #ThisIsMyLane @NRA @momsdemand #ENOUGH pic.twitter.com/H6mKBCmo0a
— Alyson Gilles (@AlysonGilles) November 9, 2018
#ThisisMyLane: 15 yo boy, innocent bystander, shot in the pelvis by a stray bullet. Obliterated iliac vessels, we couldn’t save him. His poor mother crumpled and screamed when I told her he died. Her screams haunt me.
— Jill Streams (@JCRStreams) November 9, 2018
.@NRA says docs should “stay in [our] lane.
My lane: a resident, watching my mentor desperately try to save a 6 year old accidentally shot by his brother. When he knew it over, he stopped, held the boys hand and wept at the OR table as he died.#ThisisMyLane What's yours?— Stephanie Bonne (@scrubbedin) November 9, 2018
I worked in a trauma unit and had to hold together the skull of a young man who was shot in the head, so we could wrap it up enough for his family to see him and say goodbye. #ThisisMyLane
— Kelly Pavelec (@kelly_pavelec) November 10, 2018
Moments you always remember. Furious honking in the ambulance bay. Picking up the lifeless 12 yo from the front seat like he weighed nothing. Putting him on the cot, A,B... So many holes. No breathing, finger thoracostomy, so much blood shooting up my arm. He died. #ThisIsMyLane
— Dr. Howie Mell (@DrHowieMell) November 10, 2018
I’ve been reading statements from the trauma surgeons and ED docs about gun carnage. As rehab doc, let me mention lifetimes in wheelchairs with SCI, useless arms from brachial plexus destruction, colostomies from belly destruction and years of dependence with TBI #ThisIsMyLane
— Kathleen Bell, MD (@KathleenBellMD) November 10, 2018
Hey @NRA ! Wanna see my lane? Here’s the chair I sit in when I tell parents their kids are dead. How dare you tell me I can’t research evidence based solutions. #ThisISMyLane #ThisIsOurLane #thequietroom pic.twitter.com/y7tBAuje8O
— Stephanie Bonne (@scrubbedin) November 9, 2018
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