Hospitals Are Trying To Do What Politicians Haven't: Stop Gun Violence

Not content to simply patch up injuries, hospital-based violence intervention programs around the U.S. are helping to change the lives of survivors.Gun violence deaths and injuries cost a total of $229 billion each year, according to a  2012 study that measured direct spending on law enforcement, criminal justice and health care related to shootings, as well as indirect costs like lost wages and the effects on victims’ quality of life. In other words, the average cost to taxpayers for a single gun homicide in America is nearly $400,000, according to the study. But for a fraction of that cost, hospitals have figured out  how to stop gun violence. HuffPost's senior reporter Nick Wing, who covers guns in America, followed one participant in one such program and discovered a world where just telling someone  that they mattered could save their life.