What Are the Physician Gag Laws?

Physician gag laws are laws that prohibit doctors from discussing issues and seeking certain information from their patients. Lawmakers have passed these free speech restrictions as a way to stop doctors from providing important patient care when they don’t like the message. As a general rule, these laws center around “hot button” political topics, such as gun ownership and abortion.

Many states have introduced laws restricting healthcare providers from talking about gun safety or family planning options. However, many of those laws were later defeated in physician free speech challenges. Here, you will find an overview of physician gag laws. For information about gag laws and patients’ rights in your state, talk to a local health care attorney.

What Is a Physician Gag Law?

Florida was the first state to pass a physician gag law in 2011. Under that law, Florida physicians were predominantly restricted from asking about firearm ownership, unless the doctor had a good faith belief that the information was relevant to the patient’s medical care or safety. However, the state law — Florida’s Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA) — was struck down by a federal court.

Only recently entering the legal lexicon, a physician gag law is a statute prohibiting what doctors and other health care professionals can say to patients in a medical setting. Medical professionals, health care providers, and patients should have a general understanding of the physician gag laws in their state.

In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott signed the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA) into law. The Florida law is widely considered to be the first true physician gag law passed in the United States.

Essentially, FOPA put strict limits on what Florida doctors could ask patients about their gun ownership. Additionally, it put strict limits on what doctors were able to say about firearm safety to patients. Doctors who violated the law were subject to serious medical profession sanctions. Sanctions include financial penalties and suspension or revocation of their medical practice license.

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An Appeals Court Struck Down Florida’s Firearms Physician Gag Law

The State of Florida’s physician gag law was challenged in federal court shortly after its enactment. The American Medical Association (AMA), which openly opposed the law, argued that it inappropriately interfered with the open communication that is necessary in order to facilitate an effective doctor-patient relationship. Other health care advocacy groups joined in opposition.

In 2014, a three-judge panel for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals initially upheld Florida’s physician gag law, but this decision was later vacated, and the full court struck down the law in 2017. In a 10-1 ruling, the appeals court noted that this was not a Second Amendment issue, but a First Amendment issue.

After receiving the adverse decision, Florida state officials declined to file an appeal with the United States Supreme Court. As of 2019, Florida’s physician gag rule is no longer in effect. However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling does not affect similar laws in other federal court districts.

Missouri Physician Gag Laws

The Missouri physician gag rule was part of a larger package of firearms-related measures drafted by Missouri lawmakers in 2014. 

The gag rule stated that “no health care professional licensed in this state,” or any person under the supervision of such a professional, shall be “required by law” to do any of the following:

• Ask a patient if they “[own] or [have] access to a firearm”
• Document in a patient’s medical record whether the patient owns or has access to a firearm
• Disclose the identity of a patient to “any governmental entity” based solely on their ownership of, or access to, a firearm

The law does not explicitly ban doctors, pediatricians, or primary care physicians from asking their patients about gun ownership or gun safety.

In fact, a separate section of the law states that physicians can inquire and document whether a patient owns or has access to a firearm if this is “necessitated or medically indicated” by the health care professional’s judgment.

In other words, as long as asking patients about firearms does not violate “other state or federal law,” physicians can do so.

Find Legal Help

Unnecessary restrictions on a doctor’s ability to communicate important health information with their patients are a threat to patient health. If you have any questions about medical gag laws, contact an experienced health care attorney for guidance.