News in brief - May 23, 2011

Florida lawmakers send "don't ask" gun bill to governor

The Florida Legislature in late April approved a bill that would discourage physicians from asking patients about gun ownership.

The measure would refer physicians to the Florida Board of Medicine for possible sanctions if they ask patients harassing questions about gun ownership, enter unnecessary information about gun ownership in patient medical records or discriminate against patients who own guns. The Florida House approved the bill 88-30 on April 26. The Senate followed on April 28 by approving it 27-10. At this article's deadline, Gov. Rick Scott had not said whether he would sign it into law.

The Florida Medical Assn. negotiated a compromise version of the bill with state lawmakers and gun rights advocates. The original bill would have fined physicians up to $5 million and sentenced them to up to five years in prison for asking about patients' gun ownership, refusing to treat patients who won't answer such questions or entering gun ownership information into any record.

The amended bill would allow physicians to ask patients questions about gun ownership, enter such information into a record if it is medically relevant and choose which patients to see for reasons other than gun ownership.

However, the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Florida chapter opposed both bills because they are concerned that the legislation would discourage physicians from counseling parents about gun safety.

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Legislators seek funding to train more pediatricians

Federal lawmakers have introduced legislation that would spend $330 million on the Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Payment Program during the next five years.

Funding for the program was left out of President Obama's 2012 federal budget proposal, but bipartisan legislation in both houses of Congress would restore money to the training program. More than 50 hospitals in 30 states have participated in the program. In 2009, it supported the training of 5,361 resident physicians, according to a statement from Reps. Joe Pitts (R, Pa.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D, N.J.), the co-sponsors of the Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2011.

"The small number of hospitals that receive this funding train approximately 40% of all pediatricians," Pallone said.

Sens. Bob Casey (D, Pa.) and Johnny Isakson (R, Ga.) introduced a similar bill in the upper chamber.

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Court orders VA to provide better mental health care

A federal appeals court on May 10 ordered the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to repair its mental health system so that military members with post-traumatic stress disorder are better cared for.

Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth sued the VA in 2007, claiming systemic failures in the government's processing of disability claims and inadequate mental health care coverage for veterans.

In its ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said government PTSD treatment delays were so egregious that they violated veterans' constitutional rights. The failed treatment of mentally ill veterans also contributes to the more than 6,000 veteran suicides each year, the court said.

The appellate ruling reverses a 2008 district court ruling denying the plaintiffs' claims. The latest decision is available online (www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/05/16/08-16728.pdf).

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GOP freshmen ask Obama to turn down Medicare rhetoric

New House Republicans have asked President Obama not to use rhetoric about GOP proposals to overhaul Medicare against them in the 2012 elections.

"We have all been guilty, at one time or another, of playing politics with key issues facing our country," the letter signed by 42 House Republicans states. "As the freshman class, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and fulfill the mandate set by the people to strengthen our country for future generations -- not continue the petty politics we have seen in the past, which only creates an environment of stalemate."

The letter defended GOP plans to rein in Medicare spending. Under that plan, people 55 and older would remain under the current system and younger Americans would receive federal vouchers to purchase private coverage.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee responded to the letter by calling the GOP freshmen hypocrites, noting that 21 of the signatories ran Medicare advertisements against their Democratic opponents in the 2010 elections.

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