Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fla. Law Barring Docs From Discussing Guns With Patients Violates Free Speech, Court Rules
A federal appeals court cleared the way on Thursday for Florida doctors to talk to their patients about gun safety, overturning a 2011 law that pitted medical providers against the state鈥檚 powerful gun lobby. In its 10-to-1 ruling, the full panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit concluded that doctors could not be threatened with losing their license for asking patients if they owned guns and for discussing gun safety because to do so would violate their free speech. (Alvarez, 2/16)
A federal appeals court, in a case that has pitted the First Amendment against the Second Amendment, sided Thursday with free speech. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that聽Florida鈥檚 so-called 鈥淒ocs and Glocks鈥 law, which prohibited doctors from asking patients about guns in the home, violated a physician鈥檚 free speech rights. (Cook, 2/16)