Michael Hirsh, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Many of us working in the “Gun Sense” field – that is, finding a middle ground position to advance firearm safety and reduce preventable injury in our patients – had an “a-ha” moment that led us to toil in these fields.
Mine was on Nov. 2, 1981, when my friend and co-resident Dr. John C. Wood II was shot right in front of our hospital emergency room at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights, New York City.
I have taken care of many gunshot wound victims since then, but none so difficult emotionally as this one. I participated in cracking my friend’s chest to start open cardiac massage and saw his heart devoid of blood from a through-and-through gunshot wound into his heart with a Saturday night special.
The survivability of a cardiac gunshot wound like this is close to zero, even though he was minutes away from the ER. He was in the OR and placed on cardiac bypass within 10 minutes of arrival. But his pupils were fixed and dilated and he had exsanguinated, or bled out, into his chest cavity. He did not survive despite our best efforts. It was an event that rocked Columbia and all who knew John, a fully boarded pediatrics-turned-surgical resident, a world-class Juilliard-trained French horn player and former Columbia rugby team captain.
The urgency of the firearm violence issue facing our country was heightened this past week when nine people were killed in three separate mass shootings over an 18-hour period in the U.S. In the past month, there have been attacks at places of worship, yoga studios and hospitals. Add these to the shootings in schools and in movie theaters and the tremendous sense of unease our citizenry is experiencing is completely understandable.
As physicians and surgeons on the front lines, many of my colleagues and I feel that it is no longer acceptable to treat this problem like our trauma team is a MASH unit. We have an obligation and an opportunity to reach out and speak out, and my hope is the country is listening. Because this is indeed our lane.
My training took me to other cities, and everywhere the tragedy of firearm injury seemed to follow. I knew after that night in November ‘81 I could no longer practice in New York City, but I could not escape the parade of firearm tragedies. Children shot accidentally. Teens shot in gang wars. Teens and elders shooting themselves in impulsive moments of despair, yielding nearly 100 percent completion of their suicide task.
Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, was paralyzed after being shot in the March 1981 assassination attempt against the president. Brady died Aug. 4, 2014, and his death was ruled a homicide. Evan Vucci/AP PhotoGun violence increasingly became my focus when I heard Sarah Brady explain the concept of limiting access to lethal means. Sarah is the wife of Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan’s press secretary shot in the 1981 presidential assassination attempt. Brady spent the rest of his life partially paralyzed. He died in 2014, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
The Brady approach to gun control is limiting access. It is based on the premise that we might not be able to deal with the root causes of the violence – racism, poverty, mental illness – but that we could perhaps deal with the vector of violence that elevates all these factors into lethality – access to firearms. This is the philosophy behind the Brady Campaign, which aims to limit gun violence in the U.S. I began to wonder what I as an individual trauma surgeon could do to make a difference.
In the 1990s, I was working in Pittsburgh as a pediatric trauma surgeon. A gang turf war over control of the crack cocaine trade broke out between the Bloods and the Crips. Both sides were heavily armed. As the body count rose on the north side of Pittsburgh where I was working, legislators tried to help by establishing a mandatory sentence for anyone in possession of a firearm when arrested for drug trafficking.
This caused the dealers to push the age of the drug runners to preteens and young teens, and they were equally armed. Our pediatric gunshot-wound patient victim numbers soared. When an 11-year-old was shot with an AK-47 in front of the mayor’s house, suddenly the city responded. Pittsburgh held community meetings. As director of a Robert Wood Johnson Injury Prevention Program, I was selected to represent the Allegheny General Hospital. The community disparaged our hospital as being insensitive and uncaring. Many believed we were “profiting” from the carnage and just sending the patients back out into the street to face more mayhem even if they had survived.
Our hospital encouraged my practice partner, Dr. Matt Masiello, and me to do something. We were both transplanted New Yorkers in the ‘Burgh, and we had heard about a new kind of gun buyback program in Washington Heights where a carpet store owner, Fernando Mateo, had emptied his inventory in exchange for locals bringing in their firearms. Previously, gun buybacks had only offered cash for the weapons. We decided to build a version of the program exchanging the guns for gift certificates to local merchants rather than actual merchandise. We collected 1,400 weapons that first year in 1994 and about 10,000 since then.
A Miami detective registers a Magnum .357 in a gun buyback event in March 2016. Lynne Sladky/AP PhotoThe buyback program has become much more than just a way to give the patrons the ability to rid their homes of unwanted or unsecured weapons. We built a public information blitz about the responsibility that goes along with the right to own a firearm, and we built awareness of the increased risk of suicide, homicide, femicide, accidental shooting, or breaking and entering for the purpose of stealing a firearm.
We have now reproduced the program in a number of cities across the U.S. In my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, working out of the UMass Memorial Medical Center, our multi-pronged approach to gun safety education coupled with the gun buyback has given us the distinction of having the lowest-penetrating trauma rate in New England.
In calendar year 2017, we had zero firearm fatalities, down from five the year before.
This was an astounding number, in view of national stats showing a rise from 33,000 deaths in 2010 to 38,000 in 2018. We faculty at the University of Massachusetts have built a curriculum for students at our medical school to empower doctors to ask the right questions in the proper way.
I am truly excited about the response my fellow physicians have demonstrated in their reaction to the National Rifle Association’s “stay in your lane” comments.
The NRA has already tried and failed to gag doctors in Florida from talking with their patients about gun safety.
In 2011, it backed a bill ultimately passed by the Florida legislature that would have forbidden doctors from asking patients about gun ownership or gun storage unless the doctor had a specific reason to do so. Doctors in violation could have been punished by loss of license and up to a US$10,000 fine.
“Physicians interrogating and lecturing parents and children about guns is not about gun safety,” read a letter from the NRA in support of the bill. “It is a political agenda to ban guns. Parents do not take their children to physicians for a political lecture against the ownership of firearms, they go there for medical care.”
Though it took six years to do so, the parts of the law that gagged doctors were overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2017.
And now, even more than in previous years, doctors are saying they have seen enough – actually, way too much.
Now the awakening of the M.D.s gives me a sense of encouragement and hope that we as a profession can lead our country away from the intransigent position in which nothing gets done. Gun buyback is a middle-ground Gun Sense position that can rally a community around the cause that I have been fighting for since that dark day in November 1981. I hope other municipalities will join us, as these programs do work.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines -->
Michael Hirsh, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
In The News
>WEATHER: Mark Rosenthal's 7-day forecast (:37). High of 65 today in Worcester
>TOP OF THE NEWS
+7:00: Radio Worcester (15:44): Korey’s Courage — Inspiring stories at Mass. Film Fest
+7:00: 8 athletes, 2 teams to be inducted into Worcester Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame
+7:00: This week in Holy Cross Athletics
+7:00: WooSox Rewind: WooSox take 4 of 6 against Durham
+Noon: See Worcester job, income, population changes over 30 years
+Noon: Rep. Mary Keefe on revising policies to upgrade Worcester schools
+Noon: Sean Rose on getting Mass. migrants into workforce
+Noon: Richard Thomas in "To Kill a Mockingbird" at The Hanover
+Noon: Daikaiju Pro to mix wrestling, martial arts, theater at White Eagle
+Noon: Listen Up: Ghost of the Machine, Weapon E.S.P. get "Savage" again
-Piccadilly Plaza in Worcester saved from wrecking ball as developer bring in new tenants
-In Worcester, barber offers free haircuts to help boost confidence ahead of M.C.A.S. tests (1:55). Article
-3 in custody after chase on I-290 ends in crash in Northborough (2:17)
-Related: Aerial footage of crash (:50)
-Related: Man's car stolen from outside his home, crashes during chase (2:03)
-Judge upholds prison sentence of Kevin Perry, former Worcester restaurant owner
-Sex assault suspect used dog to lure 13-year-old girl into his car, prosecutors say (2:04)
-Worcester projects benefit from $6.9 million in state neighborhood stabilization funds
-Local borrowers again hopeful for student loan forgiveness
-Third Worcester Public Library mini-golf fundraising days set to tee off
-See the neighborhood meetings this week in Worcester
-Worcester Tech culinary students head to France (1:00)
-Worcester Public Schools News (17:21): Burncoat Edition
-Radio Worcester Roundtable (45:58): City violence and upcoming State of the City address
-Unsolved: Worcester — The Gardner Fugitive and the Murder of Breanne Pennington. Video (13:59). Audio (13:58)
>FAITH: Turning away from our fleshly inclinations and toward the spirit of God
>DINING OUT: The Goods Bakery & Café is thriving in Spencer
-ICYMI: Developer seeks larger Table Talk Pies apartment project
-Worcester holds 34th annual Regional Environmental Council Earth Day clean ups
-Earth Day 2024: What the annual day means for our environment, planet
-West Boylston police seek suspects in sneaker store heist
-See the rest of the day's Worcester news
>HOLDEN (brought to you by Lamoureux Ford): Q&A with Wachusett teacher Mr. Chandonnet
-Lamoureux Ford salutes the UConn Huskies (:54)
-Holden ready for Main Street resurfacing
>THE BURBS (brought to you by North End Motor Sales): Winchendon "cottage" named a Vrbo Vacation Rental of the Year
-Utz sells former Wachusett Chip factory to producers of Popchips
-Sciuto's Bookshop in Douglas will close after a year in business
-Fitchburg woman driving on wrong side of road with flat tire arrested for child endangerment, O.U.I.
-Town Clean-Up Day helps keep Shrewsbury beautiful
-Clinton school borrowing placed on ballot
-Nashoba Regional awarded Innovation Career Pathway
-The Item's calendar of events
>BARS & BANDS: The Mayor's Live Music List for Tuesday
>SHOWTIME: FAM Jam! eyes new chapter in the "Worcester Renaissance" with fair
-Worcester County Wonders: The 1844 rapture that never happened and the rock that remains
-100FM The Pike Adventures with Mike Hsu (5:35): Line dancing at Off the Rails
-Stand-out spring ephemerals are a great way to celebrate Native Plant Month
-WCCA-TV's Rosen's Roundtable No. 533 (27:53): Rental Registry
-Unity Radio (55:12): Standups and Standouts
-WCCA-TV's Close to Home No. 564 (28:11): Paul DeBeasi
>OBITUARIES: Tribute to Worcester woman who passed away at the age of 102
>SPORTS: Bruins lose to Maple Leafs, 3-2
-Will Lionel Messi come to Gillette Stadium?
-Will McAlpine named Hilton Garden Inn Crusader of the Week
-Worcester hockey alumni highlights, NHL week 28
-Rugby team unites brothers, athletes from Worcester high schools
>CARS: Bertera has the all-star team to help you find your next Nissan car or truck (:39)
-Ford, Toyota, Tesla among 517,000 recalled
>NATIONAL: 5 icons you should know from Time's 100 most influential people of 2024 list
-Officials declined extra help before a deadly inferno engulfed Maui fire, killing more than 100 people
-Tragic: Young brother and sister dead, 15 injured when vehicle crashes into birthday party
>NEW ENGLAND: Woman dies, man hospitalized after being ejected from car in Nashua
-State tax collections up in first half of April
>COLLEGES: Anna Maria, Mass. Municipal Police Training Committee announce memo of understanding
-Clark Challenge. Change. podcast (13:50): How can microbes help farmers grow more food to feed the world?
-TODAY! Symposium at Nichols will showcase impactful projects by students, faculty
>TRAVEL (brought to you by Fuller RV & Rental): The best U.S. cities to see from the seat of a bike
>BUSINESS: Worcester earmarks $500,000 from Polar Park settlement for new diverse business grants
-LPL Research: The ever-changing market narrative
-Westborough media firm names Business.com executive as chief revenue officer
>HOMES: Mass. renters are paying more for an apartment than a year ago
>SHOPPING: 3 Mass. stores slated to close as Express files for bankruptcy
>HEALTH: Lilly's weight-loss drug reduces sleep apnea severity in late-stage trials
-UMass Medical School PhD candidate: Drugs that aren’t antibiotics can also kill bacteria − new method pinpoints how
>FOOD: Fresh and frozen imported strawberries highly contaminated with pesticides, report says
>TV/STREAMING: TV Shows canceled in 2024
>MOVIES: Deadpool and Wolverine trailer teams up Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman
>CELEBRITY: "Shopaholic" author Sophie Kinsella reveals brain cancer diagnosis
>ANIMALS: Mama dog runs to rescuer to ask him to help her puppies (:59)
>HISTORY: Isaiah Thomas House — Walk in the footsteps of Worcester's revolutionaries
>GOOD NEWS (brought to you by Bertera Nissan): Hero mom saves 17-day-old baby in cardiac arrest
-Meanwhile, in Michigan, tarot prediction leads to $500,000 lottery win for woman
Latest obituaries | | Monday's highlights | | Today's horoscope | | Local Sports
Quick Links: Personalize your news | | Browse members | | Advertise | | Blogs | | Invite friends | | Videos
Animals | | Boston Sports | | Business | | Cars | | Celebrity | | Colleges | | Commute & Travel | | Crime | | Faith | | Food | | Good News | | Health | | History | | Homes | | Local Sports | | Lottery | | Movies | | National | | New England | | Politics | | Shopping & Deals | | SHOWTIME! | | TV & Streaming | | Weather