Dr. Bard, my kid's doctor, asked me about gun ownership in our home in a visit for an annual check up. It caught me totally off guard and I tried to say I'm not answering but she said, "I'm assuming you do have guns." then went on to lecture me for 30+ minutes about how dangerous it is to own guns around kids and that I should make sure my kids take gun safety classes. She even tried to cite the experiment NBC did with hiding a gun and seeing what kids do. Less than five minutes of the visit were dedicated to my child's health. I felt very uncomfortable during all this and I'm honestly shaken by this experience. What I experienced is an ethical boundary violation because she misused a patient's trust to push a political agenda of gun control.

Submitted June 30, 2015