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 With rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on par with that
of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, trauma surgeons have found
that speaking out helps them cope with the hopelessness and anger
that come from seeing gunshot victims repeatedly wheeled into the
trauma bay.
"Working in advocacy is a way to deal with burnout," said Dr.
Jessica Beard, a trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital in
Philadelphia.
The doctors' clash with the NRA began in November after the American
College of Physicians published a paper about reducing firearm
injuries and deaths in the United States. The NRA answered with a
tweet admonishing "self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their
lane."
That set off a viral response. Trauma surgeons around the country
posted pictures of their blood-soaked scrubs and operating rooms
after treating gunshot victims, punctuated with a defiant #ThisIsOurLane
hashtag.
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The movement has spread. In Pennsylvania, a group of doctors formed
a coalition to urge policy changes to state legislators. North of
the border, the Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns staged
demonstrations in April, shortly after forming.
Experts have likened the doctors' uproar to that of high school
students from Parkland, Florida, who led nationwide protests after
surviving a mass shooting that killed 17 people on campus in
February 2018.
"What you saw in the postings from #ThisIsOurLane directly showed
the impact of gun violence on trauma surgeons. That was our way to
demonstrate the trauma that we experience in dealing with the
victims of gun violence," Beard said.
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