Posted on 08/24/2005 7:20:13 AM PDT by Millee
As doctors warn more patients that they should lose weight, the advice has backfired on one doctor with a woman filing a complaint with the state saying he was hurtful, not helpful.
Dr. Terry Bennett says he tells obese patients their weight is bad for their health and their love lives, but the lecture drove one patient to complain to the state.
"I told a fat woman she was obese," Bennett says. "I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.' "
He says he wrote a letter of apology to the woman when he found out she was offended.
Her complaint, filed about a year ago, was initially investigated by a board subcommittee, which recommended that Bennett be sent a confidential letter of concern. The board rejected the suggestion in December and asked the attorney general's office to investigate.
Bennett rejected that office's proposal that he attend a medical education course and acknowledge that he made a mistake.
Bruce Friedman, chairman of the board of medicine, said he could not discuss specific complaints. Assistant Attorney General Catherine Bernhard, who conducted the investigation, also would not comment, citing state law that complaints are confidential until the board takes disciplinary action.
The board's Web site says disciplinary sanctions may range from a reprimand to the revocation of all rights to practice in the state.
"Physicians have to be professional with patients and remember everyone is an individual. You should not be inflammatory or degrading to anyone," said board member Kevin Costin.
Other overweight patients have come to Bennett's defense.
"What really makes me angry is he told the truth," Mindy Haney told WMUR-TV on Tuesday. "How can you punish somebody for that?"
Haney said Bennett has helped her lose more than 150 pounds, but acknowledged that the initially didn't want to listen.
"I have been in this lady's shoes. I've been angry and left his practice. I mean, in-my-car-taking-off angry," Haney said. "But once you think about it, you're angry at yourself, not Doctor Bennett. He's the messenger. He's telling you what you already know."
"He should have flattered her and told her that she didn't sweat much for a fat girl. :-)"
Ooohhhh , you are soooooo terrible.!!! HaHaHaHa
"Gotta love the late Rodney Dangerfield."
Bump!
I think she's just upset about having to walk to the mailbox and back to read the letter.
Though, I bet she has one of those fat people carts.
That's a different woman.
You nailed it. The doc didn't enable her to play the Oprah victim anymore. "There, there. It's not your fault you're obese. It was McDonald's. It was Madison Avenue encouraging you to eat. It was..."
This immutable law of nature has not been repealed:
The amount of calories in must be equal or less than the calories expended, Or else you get FAT!!
I couldn't resist... ;-)
She should join Michael Moore at the $3,800 a week fat farm.
Because she didn't really want to know how to fix the problem. She wanted someone to pat her hand and agree with her while she cried about how men are such pigs because they won't talk to her and about how unfair it is that no one makes "cute clothes" in XXXX-circus tent size.
Most of all, she wanted this doctor to nod in agreement when she blamed her weight problem on "bad glands" or "stress", and not on the three boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes and the two gallons of syrup-sweet iced tea she shoves into her maw every single day of her life. But this doctor wouldn't play that game.
Was he a jerk, and was it possible he could have handled this better? Maybe. But that's what your legs are for, to walk out of that guy's office and into the office of a doctor you do like.
But for this woman, that probably would have been too much like exercise.
If she didn't loose the weight and died from heart disease or some other obesity related illness her family would probably sue the doctor for not warning her that obesity kills. Or they could sue McDonalds again.
Yeah - losing weight in the 100's of pounds is unbelievable.
Oh! so it is! Thanks. :-)
In all seriousness.... the doc's "bedside manner" was probably lacking and it simply made her angry. She's going to have a hard time making the allegations "stick" though.
I have had doctors with no bedside manner - including an OBGYN that delivered my son that had me in tears, but I didn't sue her. I complained to the head of the practice. I got an apology. Some doctors are just snarky.
>> fat and miserable she will then be rich/fat and miserable??
She can get intestinal bypass with the money.
IOW, a Body Mass Index greater than 30. I ran the calculations on a couple of different BMI calculators on the net. I am overweight, although some of it is muscle I need to lose about 15 pounds to get into the "normal" range. But the "obese" range is serious fat, not just an extra 15-20 pounds. For a woman 5'5", you're talking about 50-60 pounds overweight to be over the line.
So this stupid woman needs to get a clue and join Weight Watchers, clean out the fridge, stay away from the Ding-Dongs and the Old Milwaukee, whatever it takes.
And quit blaming the messenger!
She's not obese, she's mass enhanced.
And he's right. That's why I'm working to take it off.
This reminds me of my "mustering out" physical when I got off active duty. At the time, I was 25 years old, 6'2", 210lbs, smoked 2 packs a day and drank socially. (For an enlisted Sailor, that meant about two six-packs a week.)
During my last physical, the doctor proceeded to lecture me about being "fat", smoking, and drinking too much. Of course, I had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying since he was about 5'10" and had to tip the scales at about 350lbs himself, had an overflowing ashtray sitting on his desk and I could see four half empty bottles of booze in the credenza behind his desk.
Needless to say, I took everything he had to say with a grain of salt. (A very large grain of salt!)
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