Citation

O'Neill KM, Shultz BN, Lye CT, Ranney ML, D'Onofrio G, Coupet E. J. Law Med. Ethics 2020; 48(Suppl 4): 55-66.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1177/1073110520979402

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This qualitative study describes the lived experience of physicians who work in communities that have experienced a public mass shooting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen physicians involved in eight separate mass casualty shooting incidents in the United States. Four major themes emerged from constant comparative analysis: (1) The psychological toll on physicians: "I wonder if I'm broken"; (2) the importance of and need for mass casualty shooting preparedness: "[We need to] recognize this as a public health concern and train physicians to manage it"; (3) massive media attention: "The media onslaught was unbelievable"; and (4) commitment to advocacy for a public health approach to firearm violence: "I want to do whatever I can to prevent some of these terrible events."

Language: en