AMA: Congress Must Lift Ban On Gun Violence Research
"With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," AMA President Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement.
NBC News:
American Medical Association Votes to Lobby Congress Over Gun Research
Uncontrolled gun ownership is a serious threat to public health — and Congress needs to pay for research on the hot-button issue, the American Medical Association said Tuesday. Two days after 49 people were shot to death at an Orlando nightclub, the influential doctors' body voted to declare gun violence a public health issue and pledged to start lobbying Washington lawmakers. (Fox, 6/14)
Meanwhile, Democrats consider adding gun amendments to a long-stalled mental health bill, and doctors talk about their experiences after the massacre —
The Hill:
Dems Plan Gun Amendments On Mental Health Bill
Democratic lawmakers are planning to offer gun-related amendments to a major mental health bill being considered in committee days after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, according to Democratic aides. (Sullivan,6/14)
The New York Times:
Orlando Injuries Were Severe, But Trauma Care Was Nearby
In a scene more like a battlefield than an emergency room in a large American city, dozens of people hit by gunfire poured into the Orlando Regional Medical Center in the dark predawn hours of Sunday morning, lining the hallways and filling the operating rooms. The largest mass shooting in American history happened just a few blocks from the region’s only major trauma care hospital — an event that illuminates the new challenges facing emergency medicine. The gunman fired on his victims in a packed gay nightclub with an assault rifle that caused deep, gaping wounds. He also shot at them with a handgun whose smaller-caliber rounds, in some cases, bounced around inside their bodies, inflicting internal injuries. “If they had not been three blocks from the hospital, they might not have made it to the hospital,” said Dr. William S. Havron, a trauma surgeon at the center. (Grady, 6/14)
The Associated Press:
Doctors: Orlando Shooting Victims Arrived By 'Truckloads'
The first victim of the nightclub shooting arrived shortly after 2 a.m. and was relatively stable, giving doctors working the overnight shift hope that any others would arrive in a similar condition.Then five more came, in much worse shape, and then more, and more still, until so many bleeding people were lining up in the emergency room that even hardened trauma surgeons and nurses were brought to tears."They were dropped off in truckloads, in ambulance-loads," said Dr. Kathryn Bondani. (6/14)