Fightin’ words: ER doctors vs. NRA in nasty fight over gun violence
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Fightin-words-ER-doctors-vs-NRA-in-nasty-13387403.phpNov. 13, 2018
Emergency room physicians did not take kindly to being scolded last week by the National Rifle Association to “stay in their lane†and not get involved in the nation’s gun debate.
As of Monday morning, 26,000 doctors, nurses, paramedics, social workers and other health professionals, including some in Houston, signed an open letter to the NRA, penned Friday night and headlined “Gun Violence Is Our Lane.†In addition, the hashtag #ThisISOurLane is spreading around the globe.
“As an emergency physician, I see the injuries and death toll from guns as part of my daily routine,†said Dr. Cedric Dark, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine who also treats patients at Ben Taub Hospital, one of the nation’s busiest Level I trauma centers.
The damage a gun can do to a body haunts him. He remembers one little boy, about the same age as his own son, who was in a car sprayed with gunfire in a drive-by shooting a few years back. The child survived, but a bullet shattered one of his bones.
“He’s just a kid riding in a car. Whenever you see kids shot, especially your own kid’s age, it really makes you angry. There’s absolutely nothing you can do as a toddler to deserve that,†he said....