A school shooting that left six dead in Nashville, Tenn.,took place just 10 minutes away from the office of Ryan Mire, MD, president of the American College of Physicians, prompting him to join other health leaders in condemning gun violence.
"Today's shooting took place merely ten minutes from the office where I currently treat patients, reinforcing for me how close we all are to becoming a victim of gun violence," Dr. Mire wrote in a March 27 statement. "In the practice of medicine, physicians all too regularly come face-to-face with the tragedy that gun violence brings."
Dr. Mire called for change and cited "insufficiency of firearm policy in the U.S." as a contributing factor in the tragedy, echoing several other medical leaders including East Lansing-based Michigan State University's chief medical officer, Michael Weiner, DO, and New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling, who have expressed similar sentiments in light of recent gun violence tragedies nationwide.
The shooting was the 129th mass shooting in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. At least five victims — two adults and three children under 10 — were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for treatment, but later died.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center did not release a statement after the incident, but did share the following information directly with Becker's:
"We confirmed 3 children and 2 adults from the school shooting were transported to our Adult Emergency Department (2 adults) and (3 children) to the Pediatric Emergency Department at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital. All 5 patients were pronounced dead."