Hmm; I'm a bit skeptical about this argument. Say that there
were 15 accidental gun deaths per year in Minnesota (more than the 6 per
year that WISQARS reports for Minnesota, but not far off the per capita
rate for the country as a whole).
Would you want the state to require prospective gun owners to
study guns and safety for several years, then sit for difficult
state-run board exams, just to get a license to own and use a gun?
That, after all, is what doctors must do, in part because of this very
concern about accidental death of patients.
It seems to me that the argument for gun rights must argue that
guns should be *much less regulated* than doctors currently are. Trying
to draw the analogy between gun owners and doctors is an argument that
works in favor of pro-gun-control people, not of pro-gun-rights people.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph E.
Olson
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 10:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: MnDOH Report implies that your physician is more dangerousthan
your gun.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/10682543.htm
[snip] The Minnesota Department of Health on Wednesday released -- for
the first time ever -- data from the state's 145 hospitals showing the
number of medical mistakes that led to "adverse health events.''
In all, 20 people died and four people were seriously disabled in 99
different hospital incidents from July 2003 through Oct. 6, 2004. [snip]
20 ACCIDENTAL deaths in 16 months involving medical interventions. I
think that is way beyond the number of ACCIDENTAL deaths involving
firearms during the same period.
Physicians are much more dangerous to ordinary folk (those not engaged
in high risk criminal or psychological activities) than their gun owning
neighbors. Obviously we need more "MD Control" to insure safety.
Things like background checks, fingerprinting, waiting periods, second
opinion requirements, periodic training, automatic safeties such as a
second surgeon's presence, etc. But, as investigative reporters
establish year after year, the medical establishment is not serious
about driving the "botchers" out of their lucrative business. They'd
much rather divert attention to relatively minor problems somewhere
else, like firearm accidents.
******************************************
Professor Joseph Olson; J.D., LL.M.
Hamline University School of Law
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104-1284
tel. (651) 523-2142
fax. (651) 523-2236
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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