The retirement life

[Dobbinsky]

Guess I've been lucky never had any questions about firearms. Your mention of suicide brought back a painful memory of a guy in my company that shot himself over a Dear John letter from his wife.

That happens more than people realize. Love, then rejection...some, especially the youth, can't cope with it. I was in our field Battalion Aid Station on the big island of Hawaii at the Pohakuloa Training Area with the Marines around 1980, when a young Marine was brought in from the field. He had placed his M-16 into his mouth and fired a live round into it. Turns out his girlfriend broke up with him shortly before we flew out for training from the Marine Corps Air Station on Oahu. Such a waste of life. That was a bad day for everyone.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=ae39...b2ErdHJhaW5pbmcrYXJlYSZmb3JtPUNTQlJBTkQ&ntb=1

 

[Oldmountaiman]

That happens more than people realize. Love, then rejection...some, especially the youth, can't cope with it. I was in our field Battalion Aid Station on the big island of Hawaii at the Pohakuloa Training Area with the Marines around 1980, when a young Marine was brought in from the field. He had placed his M-16 into his mouth and fired a live round into it. Turns out his girlfriend broke up with him shortly before we flew out for training from the Marine Corps Air Station on Oahu. Such a waste of life. That was a bad day for everyone.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=ae39...b2ErdHJhaW5pbmcrYXJlYSZmb3JtPUNTQlJBTkQ&ntb=1

It is a heart breaking thing, I lost a family member and a couple of my friends. It still hurts when those dates roll in. The one in the 50s was a class mate in highschool.

 

[The Night Rider]

but the doctors i see via tricare are always inquisitive, especially pain clinic doctors

The very last Medical Practice that I worked in was a Physiatrist (Not a Psychiatrist), a physiatrist is a doctor who specializes in pain management.

I don't know the exact numbers I'm going to guess it wasn't 100% but I bet it was over 90%.

The overwhelming majority of this guy's patients were on long-term opiates for their pain.

You can't take opiates as long as some of these people were without getting addicted to them. It is what it is. Long term opiate addiction has, for lack of a better term, a side effect of depression leading to suicidal ideation.

I said all that to say that it is not inappropriate for a pain management doctor to be asking you about firearms.

I wouldn't tell a pain management doctor or ANY doctor that I own firearms but that is the one case where I think it's a legitimate question.

I sure as hell wouldn't tell anybody from the VA.

 

[The Night Rider]

Before I got my 100% VA disability, my county VSO told me he thought my mental health % was too low. Looking into a previous C&P exam finding, he said I should have been rated much higher. So I had a re-evaluation with a C&P shrink the VA set me up with. When the part about suicide came up, I was the one who brought up firearms before she could. I made it clear to her that if I was suicidal, I could have easily killed myself years ago. Told her I have a TX LTC (license to carry) and do, all the time. Just not here in her office. Told her one of my numerous pistols is out in the car, along with my wife, who has her own pistol. Also told her I have all kinds of narcotic medications left over from all the surgeries I have had. I hardly used any of them. I told her I could easily have downed all kinds of pills if I wanted to, but don't. I just wanted to make sure that even though I might be crazy, I'm not suicidal. I wound up making that woman shrink cry over my woes. But suicide and firearms/drugs were not a concern. I like to tell my wife I'm now certifiable with being crazy, and the VA agrees. They upped my percentage level "way" up, and it finally was enough to get me to the 100% level with all of my other physical disabilities.

When my VA claim was in process I had to go to a place in Colorado Springs called Veterans Evaluation Services.

One of the questions the evaluator asked me was "Do you have any combat tours?"

I don't, I told her I don't and I asked her you have my medical records sitting right in front of you right? You know whether or not I have any combat tours. She gave me a really weird look and said that's right. I think she just wanted to see if I was going to claim Stolen Valor or something

 

[The Night Rider]

I talked about this before, I worked in the civilian medical field for about 2 years as a Medical Assistant.

I'm the person that did the initial intake interview before the patient saw the doctor.

I never asked "Do you own firearms?" It was never on any of my intake paperwork. I never heard a doctor ask that question. I think I've already said this but I've never had a doctor, civilian or VA, ask me that question.

The medical practices except the Physiatrist that I worked for were all HMOs. They double booked every slot because the more patients they saw the more money they made.

I've mentioned that most of those practices double booked every appointment. That meant by the end of the first hour of the day we were 2 hours behind. It was a Sausage Factory and we moved the patients through it as fast as we could.

I worked in one place where they wanted me to have the patient ready to see the doctor in 3 minutes. That included height, weight, vitals, relevant medical history, and a brief synopsis of today's issue for the doctor.

We did not ask the patient anything that was not immediately relevant to today's visit.

I can't imagine any doctor wasting any time on that question without a specific reason for doing it. That's the kind of thing that they would put on your initial intake paperwork and it would go into your file and maybe somebody would read it and maybe somebody wouldn't.

My wife told me last night that every year because she's on Medicare her primary care doctor has her fill out a questionnaire and that question is on it. That's the only time I've ever heard of somebody actually being asked that question.

 

[NMEDGE]

All I can say about the local VA is God Bless Them. The Private Health Care I had prior to retirement was just short of awful. 2:00 appointment? Maybe 3:00 I see the Doctor who's looking at his watch. no joke. Rude as hell Receptionist's and it would generally take 10 day's to two weeks to even get an appointment. With the VA they can see me when it's convenient for me. 2:00 appointment? I'm seeing a Nurse to get my vitals checked at 2:01, no kidding. No hurry, the Doctor or NP want's to know how I'm doing with everything, not just my current issue. The standard questions are asked about safety and if anyone's abusing me. They pay for my mileage to and from my home of course, and since I'm a retired LEO I'm sure they know I have firearms but they never ask.

Glad you have had good luck with them. For me they have been useless. I avoid the VA at all costs. El Paso TX VA is the worst. The clinic at Holloman AFB is also a worthless place. I go there now just to get my meds--nothing else. Because of age I have to use Medicare and Tricare for Life so I see civilian doctors.