Mass Shootings & the Medical Community -- Thoughts to Consider

Late Tuesday afternoon I was scanning Facebook because I had nothing better to do, and I stumbled across the first post about the school shooting in Texas.  "Oh, no," I murmured.  This was the first I had heard of the tragedy. The death count at the time was 14 souls, but I knew it would go higher as often the case with these mass shootings.  As a father of two teens, I can't image the grief and anguish of these families.  I have often dropped off my own kids at school worrying something bad would happen. It's terrible. 

Part of what mass shootings so horrible -- and exhausting -- is we go through this ritualistic exercise of debating gun control and mental health and likely nothing will likely happen, for the process to only repeat with the next mass shooting.  No one is shielded or immune from this debate, including the medical community.  Some voices are calling for physicians and nurses to take a leading role in shaping this debate and any potential policy changes.  This is where I want to speak to my friends in the medical community.  

Please remember, simple solutions will not fix complex problems. 

As a conservative, I have no problem with eliminating assault rifles (weapons of war), limiting magazine capacity and the lethality of bullets, universal background checks, and the like. We have all sorts of limitations in society.   If these measures can be achieved -- and it's a massive if -- that's fine. Go for it. I also support more funding and resources for mental health. Schools should also provide arms to front-line security people (often, they don't). If only, however, these proposed solutions could stop mass shootings, or even cause a significant decrease.  I fear they won't. 

As a reader of this space, I urge you to remember our own history in the debate over medical malpractice.  How long were we told (and are still told by some) if only we rein in the greedy lawyers and unreasonable patients medical malpractice will be fixed?  Or if we do a better job of policing sloppy doctors and greedy insurance companies medical malpractice will be fixed?  Now, are there greedy lawyers and unreasonable patients?  Sure.  Are there sloppy doctors and greedy insurance companies?  Sure. However, these bad actors are actually the extremes or outliers of medical malpractice.  We have learned together that the majority of people in medical malpractice cases are good actors, there for the right reasons, but something goes terribly wrong and the traditional way of handling these events was to turn good people into blood enemies.  The simplified solutions did not speak to the majority of our problems in medical malpractice.  We needed to learn via disclosure and apology to how to authentically address this complex problem and promote change that can actually make a difference in the lives of all stakeholders.  And we continue to perfect our comprehensive solution as we speak. 

With mass shootings, the medical community should be part of the coalition that encourages a deep, thoughtful approach to these terrible tragedies.  Don't look at the guns...look at the gunmen.  Almost all of them are angry young men, and almost all white. What is happening in our society that is producing young men capable of murdering their classmates or young children, or other helpless victims as was the case recently in Buffalo?  Conservative commentors are accurate when they say guns, including high powered guns, have been part of America for a long time, but mass shootings are a recent phenomenon (say last 20 years).. Moreover, I believe that mass shooters are the extreme tip of a massive iceberg of mental health problems including substance abuse, suicide, social media addiction, anxiety, and a host of other villains that will make COVID look like a mere blip.  Why are so many people -- especially young people -- in the wealthiest, most advanced country in the world so unhappy, so distraught, and so violent?  This is an especially pertinent question given that most -- many -- of the mass shooters came from middle class to upper middle class families?  Why are they so pissed off?  They have it all, right?  Or maybe not.  

Just as we have learned that medicine is more than science (it's also emotions, communication, connections, and a whole bunch of other "soft things"), perhaps we need our physicians and nurses to remind America that raising young people involves more than money, the latest technology and gadgets, overly crammed schedules, constant entertainment, and all the other trinkets of modern life.  I don't think it's any coincidence that mass shootings along with the myriad of other mental health problems are on a dramatic increase as marriages, families, religious institutions, and other parts of our social fabric are torn, ripped, casually discarded, and even laughed off the stage. The stuff that feeds the heart and soul is in short supply, and is it any wonder our youth are hurting so badly?  In this land of plenty, too many young people are starving for what matters most.  Fine, pass some gun control legislation, claim you "did something," but is it any better than handing aspirin to a patient trying to beat cancer?  The patient -- America's youth -- needs more, and those needs will not be filled by politicians or activists.  It starts with moms, dads, families, pastors, and the like connected with our youth in an authentic manner.  Can medical professionals remind our society of this reality?  

Try to have a good holiday weekend, and remember those in Texas whose lives are changed forever. 

Sincerely,

- Doug

Doug Wojcieszak, MA, MS
Founder and President
Sorry Works, a 501c3 patient safety organization
618-559-8168 (direct dial)
doug@sorryworks.net