A week before the surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis, called for more research and said hospitals should routinely discuss firearms safety with patients, a 15-year-old boy in New York City experienced what that might look like, and how efforts Congress allowed just five years ago are already reshaping emergency departments.
The teenager, Henry, had breathing problems in the morning, so his father brought him to the Cohen Children's Medical Center in Queens. He got the treatment he needed, but also was asked the sorts of questions Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and the White House have recently suggested should be a routine part of treatment.