Letters to the Editor - November 2013

Dear Editor, 

It is very exciting to read your note in the latest issue of the journal. I enjoy Consultant360 very much. Thanks for excellent work to provide this interactive platform for physicians, especially for recent graduate like myself who always has a lot questions.

Daniel Lin, MD, PhD

Chambersburg, PA

Consultant responds:

We are so excited that you are visiting Consultant360 everyday. It is truly an interactive platform that enhances the Consultant experience. If you are interested in learning more, please check out the Consultant360 tutorial in the October issue of Consultant. ■

Dear Editor,

I was very interested in Dr. Rutecki's commentary on gun control in the July 2013 issue (“Public Health and Physician Choices: Where Do You Stand on the Gun Control Debate?” Guest Commentary, page 475). I too am very concerned about loss of life by guns. Unfortunately banning gun ownership will not fix this horrific problem. I, as well as many others in this country, have been a victim of crimes committed by law enforcement officers. 

I am a nurse practitioner and am married to a upstanding gentleman. An off duty officer—out of uniform and in his own vehicle—followed me home, ran over my husband in our driveway and tried to murder us with his gun. Road rage! If I had not owned a gun, we would be dead. My husband had to shoot him to get him to leave. 

The gun that we used that day had previously sat in a drawer for decades, but turned out to be a lifesaver in a situation that we could have never been predicted. The enemy is not always so obvious and police do not always prevent crime. I believe that citizens must be prepared to defend themselves against personal crime. 

This debate is a serious one. I wish there were an easy answer. Taking weapons away from peaceful citizens may appear to be the easiest solution, but in the end will only empower the unrighteous in leadership positions. 

As a medical provider I take any involvement in political/social issues seriously. I would ask that others consider untoward result of what they may perceive as best/easy solutions.

Cynthia Nelson, APN

Hot Springs, AR

Dr Rutecki responds:

I sincerely thank Ms Nelson for what is an insightful, sensitive, and timely response to my commentary on guns. I was impacted by her personal experience and took pause before responding. However, her response and understanding of what I propose demonstrates the overwhelming misunderstanding plaguing many crises in America today.

If my commentary is read carefully, I don’t suggest banning gun ownership! 

I suggest limits on assault weapons and greater scrutiny of who buys guns in the first place. Unless a middle ground is occupied and gun control is not confused with banning guns, thoughtful interchange will not occur. ■

Corregium

I want to applaud the leadership of Consultant for their wise decision to substitute Dr Lawrence Kaplan’s photograph for my own, for their astute prevention of nausea in female readers fits perfectly with their decision to publish discussion of risk modification in breast-ovarian cancer. However, possible damage to Dr Kaplan forces me to expose their beneficent intentions, for he is clearly a true practitioner with no need to foist genetics on the public as demonstrated by his commentary that views patients as more than DNA. I further aver that I will not exploit my falsely rejuvenated image in this age of stolen identity, and would direct readers, with due warning, to the website www.kinderGgnome.biz should they want to see the real Golder Wilson. Let me apologize beforehand for disappointing the misguided few that pursue this link, for honesty forced me to display a scarred and disfigured photograph from my attic rather the youthful and sage Kaplanesque image that persists in my mind.

~ Golder N. Wilson MD PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Texas Tech University Health Science Centers,
Amarillo and Lubbock (Pediatrics); KinderGenome Pediatric Genetics, Dallas.

Consultant apologizes for running an incorrect headshot in “Case Controversies in Genetic Medicine: Women With Breast Cancer” (October 2013, page 714) and thanks Dr Wilson for finding humor in the error. The article has been corrected on the tablet version of Consultant and on Consultant360.