This is just . . . weird

[pegkerr]

Doctor in trouble for calling woman obese.

The story doesn't say exactly how he phrased what he said to her. I gotta think there is more to the story here.

It makes me think of that term Berke Breathed coined: "Offensensitivity."

Comments

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I didn't say the doctor's job is to tell one only what one wants to hear. If, however, a patient has come for a specific problem (see redbird's anecdote below) remarking on the patient's weight, when it has little or nothing to do with that problem is not what most people want out of their doctor.

And don't be so certain about the health complications of obesity. Most studies that show health problems related to weight use as their study group people that have been yo-yo dieting and fail to take into account the stress that dieting has on the body. I'm not saying there's no health problems that are related to obesity, but there are plenty of healthy people out there that are labelled "obese" because of where they fall on a chart.

[megd.livejournal.com]

What they want out of a doctor? Right. That's why when she croaks her family will sue for malpractice because the doctor didn't do enough. Trust me, I've seen it, over and over.

Actually, I'm pretty certain about the health effects. As a public health student, it's one of our focuses, second only to tobacco. These are long term health effects. Just because there are people out there healthy now and obese doesn't mean that the studies showing connections between being overweight or obese (incidentally, it's been proven using rat models, removing the yoyo dieting connection) are invalid.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Nothing provided says anything about this woman's health condition other than her doctor thought she was obese. So her croaking and her family suing for malpractice (while it might happen) is a straw-man argument. The question at hand is whether or not the doctor should make unsolicited comments about her weight when they have no direct correlation to the problem she is seeing a doctor about. For example, if you saw your doctor about a sinus infection and, after describing your symptoms, his first comment was, "You know, you could stand to gain 20 pounds." I'm suggesting that would be seen as odd and inappropriate. Likewise, if he suggested you lose weight. We don't know why the woman in the article first saw her doctor, but given that she complained, I'd guess it didn't have to do with her weight or a weight-related health problem.

I'm also not saying that there are no long-term health problems associated with obesity. I do think it far more important to live in a healthy manner (eating nutritous foods, getting adequate exercise, maintaining mental stimulation) than to worry about the 10, 40, or 100 pounds one weighs over some arbitrary number.

[megd.livejournal.com]

It's not he thought she was obese. It's not a judgement, it's a medical formula. And she was an exeisting patient.

Also, her BMI was (based on the 5'7" and 250) 39.2. She has diabetes, borderline hyper tension, esophageal reflux. And had been told by other doctors she's obese. She just didn't want to listen.

[pameladean]

Why the hell should she listen? Dieting doesn't work. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers (the programs he recommended, with the comfortable comment that there were "lots" of them out there) -- they don't work in the long run. And they're horrible for one's frame of mind. I personally would rather die than ever go through another one of those stupid useless programs with their adherence to the ickiest ideas about bodies and femininity that our culture affords, which is saying a lot.

P.

[ex-radparker580.livejournal.com]

And yet some people manage to lose weight.

[pameladean]

Oh, sure, I've managed to lose weight myself. Repeatedly. Almost any crazy regimen will work in the short run. But very little works in the long run on most people.

P.

[faeryguinevere.livejournal.com]

"Dieting" doesn't work, but changing one's diet and lifestyle permanently to a healthy one often does. If nothing else, it at least improves one's health, if not changing one's weight.

[pameladean]

Sure. If that doctor had recommended the Health at Any Size program instead of Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, I'd be having a different response.

P.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Nothing in the article Peg linked to has that information. Information about her health history cannot, as I understand HIPPA, be released without her consent.

As for "medical forula" and BMI, these objective measurements are totally arbitrary. I plugged my measurements into the CDC's BMI calculator (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm) and got 29.7 meaning I'm "overweight" and nearly "obese." If I were to gain five pounds I'd be nicely in "obese" territory (30.3). I'm a skinny guy with a bit of a beer belly. If someone told me I needed to lose weight, I'd laugh in their face.

She just didn't want to listen.

I suspect that she'd heard that same information more than enough. From doctors, family members, even well-meaning strangers. Not to mention the cruel ones who laugh or give her dirty looks because she dares to pick up a carton of sugar-free ice cream or whatever. Or the constant barrage of advertising and other media that says you're worthless if you don't fit into some narrowly defined vision of what a woman should look like. If anyone didn't want to listen, it was probably the doctor who didn't want to listen to her.

[megd.livejournal.com]

Actually, Peg's article linked to the interview he gave today.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

I can't view the live interview but if he publicly discussed her medical history without her permission, he's opened the HIPPA can of worms all over the place.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

Even if she has all those physical problems, "your obesity will kill you" is still plain wrong. Obese people do manage good diabetic control, with medication, nutrition, and exercise, while still being obese; and I know hypertension and esophageal reflux can be treated medically. If he meant, "You are not controlling you diabetes," or whatever, he should have said it exactly that way. He was fear-monering, which is never a good motivator over the long term (short-term, yes), and making an exaggerated and unprofessional statement about her health. And then the comment about her love life was unprofessional, uncalled for, and untrue. As far as I can see, the problem was not that he dared say she was obese (which I'm sre she knew), but the way he said it.

[em-h.livejournal.com]

"if you saw your doctor about a sinus infection and, after describing your symptoms, his first comment was, "You know, you could stand to gain 20 pounds." I'm suggesting that would be seen as odd and inappropriate."

Well, when I was in my twenties, I was in a minor bike accident, and went to a doctor to make sure the bruises and cuts weren't serious. They weren't, but she _immediately_ called me on my very low weight. She was right. I was anorexic. She dealt with this with a lot of sensitivity, and I ended up seeing her regularly as part of the recovery process. So yeah, it does happen, and it can be a good thing.

I don't know the details of this particular case, but sometimes a doctor does need to address a manifest problem that isn't what the patient came in about.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you received welcome advice from your doctor. I still think it's a little weird to bring up the weight of the patient when treating them for something unrelated.

And at least you did get treated for your injuries. See the many replies here about how some doctors ignore problems they think are connected to a patient's weight in favor of giving them advice about their weight.