Geriatric persons are significantly more likely than younger people to suffer self-inflicted gunshot wounds, especially to the head.
In other words, they commit suicide.
An author in Annals of Internal Medicine believes doctors can safeguard geriatric people as well as the rest of the population by advocating more physician engagement regarding gun ownership in the brief few moments they spend with each patient.
Physicians have a legal right to ask their patients about their access to guns - as does everyone in America. There is just no legal obligation to answer. If a gun is declared present in the home, the doctor says physicians should explore the possible effect of the patient's physical and mental situation on the risk of firearm injury.
Risk for injury is increased by a number of conditions disproportionately affecting the geriatric patient population, including dementia, delusions and memory disorders, depression, and visual and hearing impairments.
The author writes that if a patient is found to have one of these impairments, the physician should work with the family members to "confront, supervise, or exhort the older adult to relinquish access to a firearm."
According to the author, physicians have a legally enforceable obligation to engage in firearms-related inquiries - whatever that means. Physicians who practice this type of care "will be practicing a form of positive defensive medicine."