Gun injuries
hit isle taxpayers
in wallet

A study shows isle taxpayers
paid $203,416 in hospital costs for
56 Oahu gunshot injuries in 1995

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii taxpayers in 1995 spent $203,416 in hospital costs for 56 victims of gunshot injuries on Oahu, a state Health Department study shows.

Hospital charges in those cases totaled $1,142,116 -- paid by the public, patients and insurance, said Dan Galanis, Injury Prevention and Control Program epidemiologist.

That cost doesn't include doctors' charges, which are billed separately, he pointed out.

A study in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association said the cost of treating gunshot victims nationally in 1994 was $2.3 billion.

Taxpayers paid $1.1 billion of that through the government's Medicaid and Medicare payments, the study said.

Thus, everyone is sharing the costs of gun violence, a researcher stressed.

Many cities and counties on the mainland are trying to recover money from gun makers for the costs of treating victims.

In Honolulu, medical charts at four hospitals were reviewed by the Injury Prevention and Control Program as part of a surveillance system for firearms injuries, Galanis said.

He said their data captured about 90 percent of the shooting injuries in 1995. "There are probably five or six more we didn't include."

Besides public payments for the hospital charges, Galanis said insurance covered $289,009 and $340,665 was paid by the victims.

The balance, $309,026, stemmed from a single incident.

It isn't known how that was paid, he said.

Fewer gunshot victims have been treated at Queen's Hospital's emergency room since 1995, said spokeswoman Karen Winpenny.

She said the emergency room had 54 gunshot victims in 1995, 38 in 1996, 31 in 1997, and 32 last year.

It's difficult to estimate the costs of treating those patients, which depend on the extent of injuries and hospitalization, Winpenny said.

Room rates, not including medical equipment, range from $682 a night for a medical surgical room to $2,320 per night for the intensive care unit, she said.

Paul Perrone, researcher in the state attorney general's office, said, "Firearms show up relatively less frequently in our violent crime statistics here, compared with other states."

He said handguns were used in 11 of 47 murders in Hawaii in 1997.

"There was a dead race between strong-arm methods, knives and handguns, with the 'other' category close behind each one," he said.

Each method accounted for 23.4 percent of all murders, he said. The "other" category, with 21.3 percent, included poisoning, drowning, rocks and other killing methods.

There are some indications that 1998 data will show a further decline in murders with firearms, Perrone said.