Leading Trauma Surgeons and Doctors Urge Passage of the Protect Illinois Communities Act
Doctors share their experiences treating gunshot victims and urgency of enacting the Protect Illinois Communities Act to prevent further senseless deaths
January 9, 2023
CHICAGO, IL - Today, leading trauma surgeons and doctors from across the Chicagoland area showed their support for passing bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that are enforceable. At a press conference at Rush University Medical Center today, doctors called on legislators to pass the Protect Illinois Communities Act before the end of lame duck session this week. In emergency rooms, operating rooms, and hospitals across the country, doctors witness the devastation gun violence, especially from assault weapons, inflicts on communities across the state.
“Our medical team cares for some of the most critically injured patients in the city, many of whom are victims of senseless gun violence. Handguns converted into assault style weapons through high-capacity magazines traumatize not only patients and their families, but the entire team tasked with their care,” said Dr. Tanya Zakrison, a member of the Section of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at the University of Chicago. “The legislature cannot leave the lame duck session without passing a comprehensive assault weapon and high capacity magazine ban that is enforceable. This matter is urgent; our communities shouldn’t have to wait another day to be safe from gun violence.”
At the press conference, Dr. Omar Lateef, CEO of Rush University Medical Center; Dr. Russell Fiorella, Chief Medical Officer of Sinai Chicago; Dr. Sheena McKenzie, a pediatric hospitalist; Dr. Chad Teven, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Dr. Halleh Akbarnia, an emergency medicine physician at Advocate Condell Medical Center; Dr. Tanya Zakrison, a member of the Section of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at the University of Chicago; and Dr. Theodore Corbin, Chairperson of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush University Medical Center spoke about why legislators must take action now to ban assault weapons.
“When someone is a victim of gun violence, they often experience psychological as well as physical wounds,” said Dr. Theodore Corbin, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at RUSH University. “These patients — typically people of color living in under-resourced communities — are dealing not only with routine exposure to gun violence but also with the daily wounds of discrimination and bias. This cumulative stress, also known as racial trauma, can have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of people of color, further widening racial disparities in health care.”
“Gun violence is the number one killer of children in our country. As a pediatrician, I have seen too many children and families torn apart by the physical and mental impacts of gun violence. This needs to be treated as a public health issue,” said Dr. Sheena McKenzie, a pediatrician who treated children who were victims of the Highland Park parade mass shooting. “Physicians do everything possible to treat and save children injured by firearms. It's time for our lawmakers to take meaningful action to prevent these injuries from occurring in the first place, starting with an enforceable ban on assault weapons. This legislation is an important and necessary step in protecting our children and our communities.”
Last week, nearly 350 doctors signed an open letter in support of the Protect Illinois Communities Act, calling gun violence “a public health crisis.” The letter was signed by doctors from dozens of hospitals across the state, including University of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Northwestern Memorial, Sinai Chicago, University of Illinois, Advocate Aurora, and more. To read the full letter and see all signers, click here.
