Dr. Sanjay Gupta: The epidemic of gun violence is treatable

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent Updated 9:44 AM ET, Mon October 5, 2015

He wasn’t looking to assign blame and categorize people into victims and perpetrators, but rather to document the genesis of violence in communities, and to document how it spreads. When he started to analyze the patterns of violence, he found two extraordinary things. One, it was predictable. Two, violence behaved like a contagion, spreading from person to person just like the flu.

If he is right, it could mean a sea change not just in gun violence, but violence of all types. As in much of medicine, we spend too much time Editor’s note: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a saved. If we can’t get this part right, all and energy treating the symptoms, as practicing neurosurgeon, is the multiple of our other efforts toward treating the opposed to the root cause of a problem. Emmy-award winning chief medical sickest patients lose meaning. correspondent for CNN. The views Treating symptoms is important, and expressed are his own. Depending on your perspective, can alleviate tremendous suffering. For homicides with a gun, which we witness example, treating a serious bacterial (CNN)As a doctor who works at an far too often in this country, may not be infection with anti-inflammatories and international news network, I often the thing you consider when thinking pain medications can make a person see the worst stories of all. In Iraq of preventable deaths. If, however, feel better. And with gun violence, and Afghanistan, the horrific realities you think of violence as an infectious more stringent background checks and of the battlefield are funneled and disease, your perspective may change. increased mental health resources can concentrated in the medical tents make a dent as well. Neither of these where I have reported for more than That is exactly what Gary Slutkin has approaches, however, actually gets rid a decade. I have seen patients infected been preaching for 15 years now, and of the core problem, which is violence with Ebola in West Africa who for good reason. He is an infectious itself. dehydrate to death, with no treatment disease doctor who spent the first in sight. There are other stories I still part of his career fighting tuberculosis In order to completely treat a bacterial can’t talk about. and AIDS in Africa with the World infection, you need to kill the bacteria. Health Organization. When he came You need an antibiotic. The questions Any doctor, any person really, will back to the United States, he decided Slutkin, along with the rest of society, tell you it is the preventable deaths to approach violence the same way: as are asking are: “What is the antibiotic that haunt you the most; lives lost a scientist; not a social scientist, but a for violence? How do we treat the root needlessly, when they could’ve been medical one. cause of gun violence?”

cvg.org ‘Move this out of judgment into understanding’ Slutkin believes an answer comes in the form of “interrupters,” featured in a film by the same name offering up solutions to the catastrophic gun violence in Chicago. Interrupters are trained health professionals who act as mediators and go to the epicenter of violent behavior. They may speak with a local gang member or to someone considering a retaliation killing for a family member. Slutkin explained that their job is “to move this out of judgment into understanding. That’s what a good were blatantly antisocial. Most of Just think of the families of those nine health person does. Someone comes society simply ignores those people, people slain four months ago in the into the ER, you don’t blame them, further marginalizing them. The AME church in Charleston, South you try and understand.” interrupters would do the opposite; Carolina, who offered forgiveness they would target those people. to the alleged shooter, Dylan Roof. “You’re interrupting the transmission. According to his manifesto, Roof You’re getting to the places where “I think we should be developing thought his action would incite a events are most likely to happen, with outreach networks that look at high- violent race war that would sweep the right people who can get there,” risk situations and high-risk people far beyond Charleston. In fact, the said Slutkin. “We’ve demonstrated you through all kinds of methods. It opposite happened. The grace of those can drop violence in neighborhoods, to could be as simple as word of mouth, family members helped break the cycle the point where it would be a very rare through the dorms, postings on of violence and cure the infection. event.” To put it in medical terms, these social media, and the Internet as a interrupters are a powerful antibiotic, whole,” Slutkin said. In medicine, it To be fair, an antibiotic never works effective in treating a tough infection. is referred to as active case finding. right away, and you have to stick with In this case, though, the infection is If done properly, it can prevent the it even when you are starting to feel gun violence. spread of illnesses and lead to the early better. There is still suffering, and other treatment of people who are already medications are typically needed to After seven Chicago area communities infected. treat the unfortunate symptoms. In the established interrupters in the early end, however, the root of the problem 2000s, a National Institute of Justice Putting the treatment has been plucked out and eliminated. evaluation found shootings dropped by into action The infection is gone. The patient is up to 73%. healthy, and he can no longer spread Perhaps you are skeptical about this the contagion to others. Now Slutkin believes the exact same whole idea of using the medical model can be applied to preventing metaphor of infectious disease for Yes this is simple. Too simple perhaps. mass shootings, by having interrupters violence. I was too. What convinced And surely this is not a complete looking for people who may be isolated me, however, was the undeniable grace answer. But a single medication hardly or marginalized. of people who are already interrupting ever is. Thinking of this epidemic of the cycle of violence -- people who, preventable deaths as an infection that In many of the recent tragedies, the against all odds, are treating the can be diagnosed, treated and perhaps shooters were described as loners, full infection of violence in their own cured, I feel more hopeful than I have of emotional pain and who, at times, remarkable ways. been in a long time.

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