Tweets by the National Rifle Association telling medical professionals to "stay in their lane" drew new criticism after two medical professionals, including one physician, were killed in a shooting at Chicago-based Mercy Hospital & Medical Center Nov. 19, USA Today reports.
Emergency room physician Tamara O'Neal, MD, and pharmacy resident Dayna Less were fatally shot by a gunman shortly after 3:30 p.m. Nov. 19. The suspect, Juan Lopez, was reportedly Dr. O'Neal's former fiance and also died during the incident.
The shooting came roughly two weeks after the NRA took to social media criticizing the American College of Physicians and the Annals of Internal Medicine for publishing a series of articles supporting stricter gun laws. The NRA's tweets claimed the articles were based on faulty evidence and dismissed physicians' efforts calling for tighter gun regulations.
However, physicians around the nation fought back against the NRA's claims, stating they have every right to be involved in the conversation about gun control. The hashtag #ThisIsOurLane went viral as physicians began tweeting images of what operating tables or hospital scrubs look like in the aftermath of treating victims of gun violence.
In a Nov. 20 op-ed for the Annals of Internal Medicine, executives from the publication, including Editor-In-Chief Christine Laine, MD, wrote that physicians and other medical professionals have the professional responsibility to speak out on issues of gun violence.
"Doctors have a responsibility as healthcare professionals and scientists to seek the answers to questions related to health and safety. And we won't be silenced in using what we learn to better care for our patients. Those who seek to silence progress toward finding solutions to the crisis of firearm-related injury are traveling a lane that leads, literally, to a dead end. We're going to stay in our lane and keep moving forward," the authors wrote.
The recent shooting in Chicago spurred more unrest over the NRA's comments. Emil Fernando, MD, a surgeon affiliated with Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, questioned how the organization could ask physicians to stay out of the debate when it directly affects medical professionals every day.
"Lemme guess, @NRA, still not 'our lane' even when it happens in our own hospitals? I don't think so," Dr. Fernando tweeted Nov. 19.