Nanny statism soon to cross the big pond!
Under the same mentality - they should deny fertility treatment to stupid people too, because stupitity puts added risk to preganancy (and really any aspect of life), and who wants stupid people to have children anyway? The child would be doomed. Then again - with the fact that apparently there is a genetic link to stupidity, we wouldn't want stupid people reproducing anyway.... you know, survival of the fittest....
Do I really need a [/sarcsm]?
so the sign outside the fertility clinic will read "No Fat Chicks"?
This isn't bad policy. If IVF infertility treatment (i.e. test tube babies) has a very low success rate on obese women with fertility issues, it does not make sense to spend a small fortune on such cases. Basically the NHS is saying that this treatment isn't going to work for fat women so we shouldn't waste time and money on it. Especially since it is not a life-and-death situation. What I don't like is the use of BMI to set medical policiy because it is only a superficial measurement with a poor correlation to body fat.
Most men already deny fertility treatment to obese women.
"Oh, you got the DOUBLE cheeseburger didn't you, you fat slob? Didn't your cholesterol come back with a freaking exponent on the end of it? Give me that you gastropod. Here, have a fruit and walnut salad or whatever other pseudo-healthy swill Mickey D's is pushing this week."
Two things here:
1. Many medical procedures require the patient to adhere to basic requirements for success of the procedure. I don't see this as a nanny state issue.
2. I have a relative who weighs 400 lbs and she has many issues because of her obesity problem. She complains very loudly that she goes in to see a doctor for a sore foot and gets a lecture on losing weight and how the weight contributes to her poor health. She is so dedicated to being obese and her right to be obese that she won't listen to doctors, family and friends that she is killing herself with food. I don't know how to get her or others like her to look at what they are doing to themselves.
If you want to be fat then you have to live with the consequences what ever they maybe!
These procedures have a very low rate of success for obese women. Tax payers shouldn't have to spend a fortune trying to provide such services which are not required medical care and also have a low rate of success.
They shouldn't be paying for these kind of elective medical procedures for anyone.
Dump the whole socialized fertility treatment, and take the government out of the role of who can or cannot receive fertility treatment other than possibly regulations regarding cases which pose a genuinely high risk to the prospective mother and/or children.
Even in cases that pose a high risk to the mother, it might be reasonable to only require that the prospective mother be made fully aware of the risks and be reasonably capable of understanding those risks.
Fat people didn't stand up for smokers. Now it's their turn.
See now, this is not a true statement. What they actually said was that they should be denied fertility treatment that the rest of us have to pay for.
What's the next step? Deny Jews welfare?
Welcome to the happy world of Eugenics. The State is omnipotent and knows best who should breed and who shouldn't. The next phase is forced sterilization of irresponsible people who eat too much, followed by post-natal birth control.
How did this outbreak of sanity occur?