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."
My mother-in-law went to her doctor years ago and told him that her hubby was cheating on her. He told her to lose weight! Just too funny in my opinion!
I agree 100% Mom. In order to quit any addiction (excessive eating, drinking, drugs, gambling, etc) many people have to hit "rock bottom" before they will change their ways.
Yup. I too am fat due to the "Coke" diet. And I have just this week (on Monday) started the long haul towards caffiene and sugar independence. Monday held headaches and general grumpiness, but these last two days have been fine. But for me, it's like being an alcoholic. I can't simply moderate the sugar and caffiene. I have to eliminate it. Even a little makes me crave more. And I don't like the person I become when I want a "fix" (low blood sugar).
NO MORE FOR ME.
I play softball 3 times a week, and have been getting my husband to hit balls to me at least twice a week besides that, so I do exercise.
In the last two days, I have not had heartburn once. That in and of itself is worth the "loss" of sugar and caffiene. Wish me luck...
I don't think that we would have to worry about fatties sueing DR's if we had socialized medicine. She'd have to wait for 3 months to have her heartburn and other stupid self inflicted problems looked at and she'd probably be snubbed by DR's that were busy sorting out mindless complaints from real issues.
AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! (Rolling and laughing in tears on the floor)
She fell down & broke her leg and gravy poured out! :P
Good luck to you! Your teeth will thank you too! I used to have a couple sodas a day, but didn't care for the results, so now I drink flavored water. Give that a try. : D
The Dr. should have said..........
"Lady, the next time that you go camping,
....the bears will hide THEIR food in the trees".
PS: What a shame that your doctor was so awful during the delivery of your son. I am having my third at the end of the year, and I firmly believe I have one of the greatest doctors on earth! I switched to him in about the fourth month of my first pregnancy, and what a lucky choice on my part. And he is a solo practitioner, so none of that roulette wheel doctor thing that some mothers experience. I have had my fair share of problems with doctors, but I feel like I have some kind of karma going, that I probably used up all of my medical good luck finding my ob/gyn... but it was worth it!
So if the doctor would have said nothing to her (since feelings are more important than one's health) and she would have died of obesity related diseases, her family would have sue the doctor for not telling her to lose weight. Thank God that MD didn't graduate from Kerry University of Sensitivity, his patients would have been in trouble.
I did try some flavored waters and most of them were gross... but then I tried this one in a thin bottle (ironic, isn't it?) that was fabulous!
I have a 20 month old daughter whom I don't want to see mommy with weight related issues. Fortunately, heartburn and of course FAT are the only two that have come up, but it's enough to scare me a bit.
And I have slowed a bit, hurting my ability to get to the ball.
Thanks for the support. I really appreciate it! :o)
This doctor was NICE about it.
Me to Fatty: PUT THE BOX OF TWINKIES DOWN!!!!(through megaphone, two feet from patient) GET OFF YOUR ASS AND EXERCISE!!!!
Then again, I'm not that nice.
That was a different patient of the Doctor. One that took his advice instead of suing him.
If this is what he said and how he said it, she had no reason to be offended. It was the truth, told in a firm way, but not in a 'mean' way.
Yeah... somebody told me already. But thanks just the same. :-)
Actually my doctor told me that being fat per se isn't really unhealthy, except for your joints and such, but the side effects, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc, were what would kill you. Still he encouraged me to lose some weight, or rather on my last visit to that doctor ( I moved) to continue to lose weight, which I have although fairly slowly.
This was a different woman, not the one who filed the complaint.
Not to me, I've done it several times. What's unbelievable, or at least rare, is keeping it off.
If "professionalism" is perverted to avoiding reality and concealing the truth for reasons other than medical, what's the point of calling themselves professionals?
Doctors are obligated to tell me what is wrong, what is causing it and what I can do to improve the quality of my life. Once.
Once he or she knows I undertand, that is the end of it. Being a nag is no more professional than being pathetically "politically correct".
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