Pediatricians Expect Kids to Snitch on Parents

Bloodboiling nannyism documented in the Boston Herald, with thanks to Nobody's Business reader Kerim for the tip:

“The [pediatrician] wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it’s too much,” my [13-year-old] daughter told us ... “She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house.”

“What!” I yelped. “Who told her about my stasher, I mean, ‘It’s an outrage!’ ”

I turned to my wife. “You took her to the doctor. Why didn’t you say something?”

She couldn’t, she told me, because she knew nothing about it. All these questions were asked in private, without my wife’s knowledge or consent.

“The doctor wanted to know how we get along,” my daughter continued. Then she paused. “And if, well, Daddy, if you made me feel uncomfortable.”

Great. I send my daughter to the pediatrician to find out if she’s fit to play lacrosse, and the doctor spends her time trying to find out if her mom and I are drunk, drug-addicted sex criminals.

We’re not alone, either. Thanks to guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported by the commonwealth, doctors across Massachusetts are interrogating our kids about mom and dad’s “bad” behavior. ...

Debbie is a mom from Uxbridge who was in the examination room when the pediatrician asked her 5-year-old, “Does Daddy own a gun?” When the little girl said yes, the doctor began grilling her and her mom about the number and type of guns, how they are stored, etc. If the incident had ended there, it would have merely been annoying. But when a friend in law enforcement let Debbie know that her doctor had filed a report with the police about her family’s (entirely legal) gun ownership, she got mad. She also got a new doctor.

In fact, the problem of anti-gun advocacy in the examining room has become so widespread that some states are considering legislation to stop it. Last year, my 7-year-old was asked about my guns during his physical examination. He promptly announced to the doctor that his father is the proud owner of a laser sighted plasma rifle perfect for destroying Throggs. At least as of this writing, no police report has been filed.

“I still like my previous pediatrician,” Debbie told me. “She seemed embarrassed to ask the gun questions and apologized afterward. But she didn’t seem to have a choice.”

Of course doctors have a choice. They could choose, for example, to ask me about my drunken revels, and not my children. They could choose not to put my children in this terrible position. They could choose, even here in Massachusetts, to leave their politics out of the office.

But the doctors aren’t asking us parents. They’re asking our kids.

Read it all.

By the way, my own family, here in Maine, has a local pediatrician who is knowledgeable and passionate and kind, and who is also not above having the parents of his little patients fill out questionnaires inquiring (among other things) about their gun ownership, if any. Vaguely annoyed, the last time he asked, I confirmed my possession of an entirely legal firearm. But enough already. If he ever raises the subject again, I think I'll muse aloud on the vanishing art of people minding their own beeswax.

Comments

[Martin Owens]

I wonder how the doctors would like to have their own lives put under the microscope like that. Remember Richelieu's saying that given three sentences written by an honest man, he would find something there to hang him....
let's run the would be ruling class thrugh their own grinder a few times, see how nosy and bossy they are then.

[Melinda]

I am a mother of 2. I had a pediatrician ask my older child how he felt about his dad. After that I made sure that before every visit to any doctor that my children know that they do NOT have to answer any questions that they are uncomfortable with. It is hard for a young child to truly distinguish this. How sad that we live is such a world full of fear mongers that we have to protect our children from the pediatrician!

[Sue]

I see nothing wrong with this, I wish when I was growing up this was available for me. A lot of children are afraid to speak up, and this gives an opportunity for a minority a way to tell someone even if it makes a majority feel uncomfortable. It's better to stop abuse than ignore it or play dumb.

[Rogier]

So you're OK with doctors asking kids about the parents' politics, including gun ownership? It's so facile and unthinking to excuse -- no, to endorse -- any and every policy ostensibly designed to protect children. That the sanctity of our homes and our privacy are sacrificed in the process is just collateral damage, I take it?