Veterans can lose their weapons permit if they answer yes to three questions in a medical exam-Fiction!

Veterans can lose their weapons permit if they answer yes to three questions in a medical exam-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:
A forwarded email that cautions veterans about questions that maybe asked while in treatment at the Veterans Hospital. The email says that if a veteran is asked about being stressed, feeling threatened or wanting to harm someone and if their answer is yes they could lose any authorization to carry a concealed weapon.

The Truth:
This one is fiction. A spokesperson at the Veterans Hospital told TruthorFiction.com that all patients are protected by doctor/patient confidentiality and any information taken by the Veterans Administration (VA) is never shared with any outside agencies. The only exemption to the case would be if a hospital were asked to assist in a criminal investigation.

The three questions about feeling stressed, threatened and desiring to harm others are to test for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which some of our men and women in the armed services have suffered as a result of combat. This test is administered to many patients who served in the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.

updated 05/18/09

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

This one is for you Veterans. I have never heard of this before, but I thought it was important enough to pass along here.

"I had a doctors appointment at the local VA clinic yesterday and found something very interesting I would like to pass along.. While going through triage before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions.

(1. Did I feel stressed?)
(2. Did I feel threatened?)
(3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone?)

The nurse then informed me, if I had answered yes to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security.

I am a Viet Nam vet and 15 year cc permit holder. Looks like they are going after us vets."