Posted on 02/16/2007 12:08:17 PM PST by SJackson
London (CNSNews.com) - As Britain grapples with what's been called an obesity epidemic, a leading government minister here says grossly overweight people should be denied surgery.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said in a newspaper interview this week she approved of doctors refusing overweight patients knee and hip surgery, until they lose weight.
Hewitt also said smokers should have to give up the habit before they are allowed to undergo surgery such as heart bypasses under Britain's National Health Service (NHS).
Overweight patients and smokers should be given access to programs that will help them lose weight and quit smoking, she said.
The United Kingdom is officially the most overweight country in Europe. The most recent health department study projected that 13 million of the 50 million people living in England - as opposed to the entire country - would be obese by 2010.
Obesity is commonly measured by what's called the body mass index (BMI) - in the metric system, a person's weight divided by the square of their height (In the U.S., multiply weight, in pounds, by 703 and divide that number by height, in inches, squared.)
Although many doctors have argued that this is an imperfect tool because it does not take into account muscle and bone mass, a person with a BMI of 30 is generally considered to be obese.
Endless debate has focused on the causes of the problem in Britain - from fewer gym classes in schools to the availability of cheaper junk food - and the government says it is costing the National Health Service millions of dollars each year.
In response, the NHS has tried to implement a number of preventive measures, up to the point of offering free tango lessons to patients.
The health system is funded through a mandatory tax and this year, frontline hospitals are projected to have a $3 billion-plus deficit.
Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said he feared the government was using its war on fat as an excuse to cut costs in the ailing NHS.
Waine told Cybercast News Service that two "health trusts" -- organizations that operate a set number of hospitals and clinics -- had already stopped all operations for patients with a BMI of 30.
He said that there was no scientific basis for denying surgery to people with that level of obesity, particularly when it came to former rugby football players and other naturally bulky men.
"If you make a decision on clinical grounds, that's fine," he said. "But if you make it for political reasons, then that's unacceptable."
In many cases, such as when the patient has severe arthritis in hips or knees, without treatment it would be difficult for a patient to stand, much less lose weight, Waine said.
Neville Rigby, director of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, said it was his personal opinion that this issue wasn't straightforward discrimination against obese people.
He said the matter basically came down to each surgeon's opinion about whether a patient is fit for surgery.
Increased weight in a patient made any operation more dangerous, and the associated respiratory problems made anesthesia more difficult to administer.
Rigby said another factor to consider was that morbidly obese patients -- those with a BMI of 40 and over -- needed more patient care than others.
Very overweight patients needed reinforced beds to be able to hold them, and sometimes needed as many as four nurses to turn them over, to prevent bed sores.
Society is growing fatter, Rigby said, and doctors inevitably will be faced more and more with the difficulty of treating overweight patients.
"As people become more obese, as we get to a higher level obesity of BMI at 40 and above, we're going to see more and more of it," he said.
A spokeswoman for the British Medical Association said it "would support good clinical practice where doctors would advise very obese patient too lose weight before surgery. This makes sense as surgery is more risky for obese people.
"However we could not support any blanket bans on surgery for financial reasons," she said. "For example there has been media coverage saying smokers and obese people would not receive treatment -- this is about saving money not about making clinical decisions based on a patient's individual situation."
The BMA is Britain's main doctors' organization.
I remember this really obese state worker I worked with had a hard time walking. He was huge! He went on disability on and off over the years....then had surgery on his knees and a hip replacement and then went on total disabilty. All he did was get fatter and fatter. I personally was p*$$ed that I had to pay for his ultimate gluttony and laziness.
But IIRC some don't qualify for for joint replacement for purely medical reasons.
After a certain age your bones heal slowly and if you are heavy the connection between bone and metal will be too fragile to hold your weight.
I bet this angers some. I would be surprised if it hadn't generated a number of law suits in the good old USA.
Speaking of ERs, I read a joke recently.
The other day, I needed to go to the emergency room.
Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on some old Army fatigues and stuck a patch that I had downloaded off the internet onto the front of my shirt.
When I went into the ER, I noticed that 75% of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all.
Here's the patch. Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service.
Socialized medicine.
Efficient only at mass murder.
lol!
Now, its just a matter of time before the age limit?
"That is a REALLY good idea, excepting in cases where they can prove that it is due to some kind of physical (as opposed to mental) condition."
You're a fascist little twit, aren't you?
Socialism never works. When the wealth is shared, there's no reason to achieve. Once the desire to achieve is gone, there is no one willing to replenish economy.
As those under Stalin eventually learned, when the money starts to run out and there's no longer a motivated population to replace it, a portion of the population must die. It's the only way to feed those who are left.
Right now, it's the smokers and obese who must die. Who will become the next villain? Who will be next in line for death and the sake of the great socialist collective?
A patient at Mass General made a remark that he should just claim to be an Illegal Alien so he wouldn't have to pay like all the Illegals that got treated ahead of him. A Social Worker in a nearby office heard this and stormed out of the office to inform him that in MA it is illegal to impersonate an Illegal Alien.
Liberals don't have any mental health to benefit from!
Carolyn
"A Social Worker in a nearby office heard this and stormed out of the office to inform him that in MA it is illegal to impersonate an Illegal Alien."
Sadly, I don't doubt that this is true.
I don't blame you - I feel the same way. However, the root cause is not the obesity. It is the fact that government can take our money at the point of a gun and distribute it to whomever it decides warrants it. Goes back almost a hundred years to the beginning of the income tax.
Carolyn
We already have a doctor here in my city that will not treat smokers.
Liberals: "We know whats good for you"
I agree with you....It just reminded me of that lazy swine and I had to vent. :)
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