Children, adolescents, and guns in Louisiana: a thought experiment.
More children and youth in Louisiana die from firearm injuries than from any other injury, including motor vehicle accidents. Many survive their injuries to lead lives with permanent disabilities. The cost to the victims and to society as a whole is enormous. What is the best way to address this issue? What is the physician's role, both as an individual and as a member of a medical organization? This paper describes a way of thinking about firearm injury prevention. It introduces the reader to the Haddon Matrix and the Intervention Decision Matrix. It then reviews six options and offers one model, motor vehicle injury reduction, as a way to consider intervention options.
Galland
H
H
Clinical Family Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and Earl K. Long Medical Center, Baton Rouge, USA.
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005389:Firearms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006078:Government Programs; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D010819:Physician's Role; D012307:Risk Factors; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*