Here in Cow Hampshire, we have a doctor named Terry Bennett. Dr. Bennett runs a family practice, and has a reputation for giving his patients the blunt facts. And that has gotten him into trouble.
Like a lot of people, Dr. Bennett has noticed with concern the rising obesity of Americans. (blush) And as a doctor, he sees it as his duty to get his patients to live more healthy lives.
In that spirit, he told one of his patients to her face that she was obese, she would most likely outlive her obese husband, and she would probably end up alone because men tend to not be attracted to obese women. He also spelled out for her just some of the many other health problems that obese people face.
The patient didn’t take his advice to heart. Instead, she took it to the state medical board.
Dr. Bennett responded to the formal complaint by saying, in essence, “yeah, I said it, but it’s all true.” He also wrote an apology to the woman.
That isn’t enough for the board. They’ve referred the matter to the state Attorney General’s office, which is considering ordering Dr. Bennett to attend an educational course and admit he was wrong. Dr. Bennett is having nothing to do with that plan.
Another of Dr. Bennett’s patients is organizing a petition drive in support of him. One of the signers is quoted:
Melinda Haney of Rochester has been Bennett’s patient for 15 years. She had more than 100 people sign a petition asking Lynch not to re-appoint Ayotte as attorney general because of the investigation.
Like the woman who filed the complaint, Haney is obese.
“For 15 years Dr. Bennett would tell me ‘Mindy, you’re overweight and you smoke,'” she said. ” ‘You are going to get diabetes or cancer or have a stroke or heart attack.’ The whole time I was saying ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m young, those things only happen to someone else.'”
She said now she is a diabetic, has had cancer and failed a stress test terribly.
I am dumbfounded at this anonymous complainer. She apparently feels she has the right to be obese and not be called that, not even by the doctor she is seeing to help her live out a healthy life. And if she doesn’t get her way, she’ll make damned sure that that doctor pays the price for telling her the truth.
(Disclaimer: Yes, I am carrying around quite a few more pounds than I ought to. And yes, I’m not doing very much about it. But what this whacko is doing is so beyond the pale, even I feel the need to call her on it.)
“First of all, “Barry”, I think you should drop the anonymity. It undercuts your arguments.”
Do you need a phone number and a street address, too? I don’t need people who are basically Flat Earthers harassing me at my office. My points stand on their own merit and demanding a name in these Internet set-tos is typical of those with no solid ground to stand on.
“And I’ve got mounting evidence that proves otherwise.”
Okay, fine. I know more doctors than you do, and I’m a lot smarter, and I’m obviously more in tune with the medical profession, and unlike you I fundamentally have no axe to grind or emotionally investment in my position here. But pretend that’s irrelevant. Let’s assume doctors are generally assholes (an assumption people like you are essentially forced to retain since you obviously think anyone who believes fat and poor health are related is wrong). Do explain how this overturns the findings in the article I linked in my last comment.
“Ah, but you put a qualifier on it – “at length” – and changed the argument altogether. (Nice job!)…I rest my case.”
I changed nothing and you have no “case.” If you want me to agree that some people are, rightly or not, simply saying “Well, ya fat pig, suck it up and lose weight!” then I already have. So what? Those with substantive posts here are a little more difficult for you to dismiss, because you can’t just assign them evil motives or wave your hands and make them disappear, can you? How about the findings detailed in the Cardiosource abstract?
“Back to you, Barry: “Shifting the philosophical emphasis from weight loss to lifestyle change is moot – question fat people and find out how many of them are making any effort to put in more than a few minutes a day of exercise.”
Let’s open it up here: ask ANY people this question [how many of them are making any effort to put in more than a few minutes a day of exercise] – fat, thin, whatever. Your problem is with inactivity in general, not fat people.”
My problem? That’s good. No, let’s specifically ask FAT people this question, because they’re the ones complaining here of being unable to lose weight despite not overeating and touting the benefits of “joyful movement” and so on. Let’s ask the FAT people if they practice what they preach. That way we can keep the emphasis where it belongs – not on the mean and improper input from doctors and “fatphobes” but on FAT people. Thin, sedentary people would also be advised to be active, and I assure you they are. But that’s a different issue, and no amount of bluster on your part is going to take the spotlight off your unsupported cackling. Simple enough for you?
“Instead of continuing to argue against an anonymous, faceless person on the web, my time *is* better spent focusing on fat rights and combating fat discrimination. And I’m doing that.”
Congratulations. While you’re at it, you can inflect some objectivity into the process by not lying, quote-mining, and appealing to sources and authorities which themselves consist of lies and liars. Fighting real discrimination is one thing, but insisting that doctors are part of the problem because they cling to the “antiquated” idea that obesity is a crippler and a killer destroys any chance you have of attracting widespread sympathy. The “in yo’ face” tactic only reinforces people’s pre-existing ideas about the whininess and stupidity of fat people. So if you want ot keep getting what you’ve gotten, keep doing what you’re doing.
“Fat people are never going away, Barry. That is something you’ll have to live with and, frankly, if you can’t handle it – that’s your problem.”
Again – my problem? No. In fact, not to trivialize, but the fatter you all get, the better I look. That’s not central or even relevant to the discussion here, but it’s undeniable: Fat people look and often smell like shit. I’m not the one who can’t walk up and down stairs, has hair growing in weird places, and can’t get laid. You see, the truth is that the medical community’s stance on overweight and obesity is not going away, which is a far more daunting problem for you than a few angry fat people is for me.
Hair growing in weird places??? Huh? Seriously, does anybody have a full text version of the full JAMA article on low grade inflamation and fat. Pleeezee….
Now the discussion has degraded to a volley of ad hominems. Pretty soon, a full-blown food fight will ensue.
No one is really listening to each other anymore. It’s just a heap of attacks directed at one another.
I will no longer participate in this type of discussion.
young doctor you hit the nail on the head, what I grasp from this is that propaganda is alive and well.
propaganda implores name calling, generalizations, and twisiting of the facts and half truths etc. it doesn’t allow for questioning of the so called experts and their articles. it appeals to the emotions, not to logic. this is not new, hitler used it to get people to kill and hate jews, and to get the tutsies and hutsies to kill each other with no mercy and no conscious.
now we know the so called facts about the jews were false but people actually believed it. and so did the tutsies and hutsies in africa.
if anyone cares to,, here are some references, Adipose 101 on the net, How to be naturally thin by eating more, also bodyfueling by robyn landis. also starvations studies on the net which is a river centre clinic article, I also read the book fat instinct, it was excellent, but I can’t find it at the library anymore.
tech central station has a series on obesity series, even if you don’t agree with the articles there are links in there to check out. if you care to see the other side of the issue.
the side of the issue that people are fat because they are lazy sloths who can’t stop eating has already had it’s turn on tv, in papers and magezines in vast quantities for years, it is time to see the other side of the fence.
RR
Young Doctor, I wish my doctor had treated me the way you describe you treat your patients when I was a 10-year-old child who was about 10 pounds “overweight” and put on a low fat, low calorie diet (as was the fad at the time) and excersize plan. I wish my doctor had not assumed I was lazy when I couldn’t keep up with the excersizes, even though I was putting as much into it as everyone else and very physically could not continue on. I wish someone had thought to tell me that I wasn’t a bad person for being the size I was, or that it was important for me to keep eating healthy amounts of food because I was still growing. For all I know that initial 10 pounds was just my body getting ready for a growth spurt I had a few months later. And I’m pretty sure that lack of energy had to do not only with the lack of food, but also with the hypothyroidism I was later diagnosed with.
I remember jogging in Jr. High and suddenly my body just gave out and I had to drag myself to the finish line. I remember that same year almost fainting because of a sudden dizzy spell. What did everyone assume was the cause? I was fat. Of course that was the cause. I mean, fat kids are lazy and of course their bodies can’t take excersize, right? It wasn’t until I had another dizzy spell while at work and a co-worker became very concerned and told me I might be anemic that anyone ever thought it was anything other than being fat and (therefore) lazy.
To all the people who are about to jump all over me and tell me that I can change my size, I would ask how they came to that conclusion, when studies show that restrictive diets are only 95% effective at best? I went through 12 years of torturing myself and starving myself because I was so concerned not only about my health but about how I was basically being told that by letting myself be fat I was, in essence, mutliating myself and horribly disfiguring myself. And yes, I believed from that tender young age of 10 that I would be a lonely fat woman living in an appartment my whole life with nothing but cats for company (good thing that everyone who believes no one could find a fat person attractive is wrong). During those 12 awful years I had weeks on end where I consumed between 600 and 1000 calories (and I thought I was being a total pig if I was eating a whole 1000 calories per day), and excersizing for and hour per day when I had the energy (you try to do that at only 1000 calories), I only ever lost 5 pounds. Yes, 5 pounds was about the only amount I could loose. So don’t tell me it’s easy or even possible for me to loose weight. I don’t deny that it’s possible for some, but I know my body, and I know that the only time I stopped gaining weight was when I started listening to what my body was telling me I need. If I crave broccoli, I eat broccoli. If I crave bread, I eat bread. If I’m not hungry enough to eat a whole meal, I don’t. And if I’m starving I eat as much as I need.
I’ve never been healthier. Back when I was dieting, my cholesterol started to get a little high, but now it’s back down. Actually, it’s “perfect” according to my doctor. In fact, so is my blood pressure, my blood sugar, really, you name it, it’s within established, healthy parameters.
I should add that in addition to the weeks on end of extreme low dieting, I was spending months consuming no more than 1500 calories. I’m not saying that dieting for a few weeks would be effective for those who can succeed at it.
Barry Yatrick, what’s with the handle? Bariatric…So how much money do you make off of fat people. Seriously. I’d like to know why are you hiding behind that moniker? It really seems silly and immature.
“>Steven Olchowski ???
steven olchowski
As a final note, it’s truly sad that “Barry” succumbed to insults in the end. But it’s also indicative of many – but again, not all – of the people who are anti-fat; it’s such an attack on their long-held beliefs that rational discussion, or even attempts at such, just fall off.
Young Doctor, I did want to say thanks for answering my question in a rational manner.