A top Defense Department health official said Tuesday that a law limiting the DoD's ability to ask questions about firearms ownership by service members hinders the physician-patient relationship and should be amended.
Questioned during a hearing by a Senate Appropriations defense panel on a 2013 law that prohibits DoD leaders, including commanders and health providers, from inquiring about or recording any information on private firearms owned by troops, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez said the law, in terms of health care, is “not good for any of the two parties.”
“As a physician, the relationship between my patients and I is … sacred. We talk, and I expect him to be truthful with me so I can help him. Anything that interferes with that interferes with good medical care,” Martinez-Lopez said.
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A 2011 law prohibited the DoD from collecting any information on firearms ownership among service members who don't live on a military installation (members who live on base are required to register any privately owned guns with base officials).
Section 1057 of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act further clarified the 2011 law, allowing military and civilian DoD health officials to ask about firearms ownership or possession, but only if they believe a service…
