no more, no less. a pediatrician looks at ALL parents as POTENTIAL abusers.

[HiPointDem]

283. yes, a lot of company, including the US government. which is why my comment was sarcastic.

smokers are one of the groups it's ok to be uncivil to; you're hardly a brave truthteller standing against hostile massed power.

which is why you're able to:

- treat your smoking patients rudely and cruelly though such tactics are completely unproductive for anything but making *you* feel superior & powerful

- disbelieve them when they tell you they smoke outside (a lot of smokers smoke outside, even if they don't have kids, because they don't want to stink up their houses, but *you* know better because of your own prejudice)

- tell them absolute crap like "even if you wash your hands until you bleed you are poisoning your children with nicotine" - a lie.

there are half a dozen countries who smoke more, lots more, than americans do & live longer. poverty and inequality contribute as much to bad health as smoking does, but i rarely hear the upper classes getting as self-righteous about *that* as they do about smoking. people don't smoke because they don't know it's bad for them, and no one has ever quit because their doctor behaved like a pompous ass to them.

if i had a doctor like you i'd report him.