Comments on: Refusing to Treat Obese Patients

By: rhiles

rhiles — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:09:56 +0000

As someone who is twice the woman she should be (5’9″ 300lbs) I do NOT support this right. I am a healthy individual, I eat right, I exercise daily, and I even have gone so far as to have a personal trainer create a beautifully crafted work out plan for me. My blood pressure is typically 125/72.My husband and I want to have children at some point as I’m only 22. So why is it right, that I, a healthy, “morbidly obese” individual gets denied care, when I have friends who smoke, drink, do drugs, eat nothing but bacon half the time, never work out, and take terrible care of themselves, but weigh in a “normal” limit. I realize I’m in the minority here as everyone decides that fat people are the laziest, but even still, it’s sick that I might be denied care because I can’t get my weight under control.

By: Hueydoc

Hueydoc — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:09:16 +0000

And if ALL the other companies turn you down, it’s time to lose the damn weight.

By: Hueydoc

Hueydoc — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:08:09 +0000

Maybe they would get serious about losing weight then ?
If you are turned down for health insurance because you weigh 10 pounds too much, you either lose the weight or find another company.

By: Alison

Alison — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 11:23:23 +0000

I wish it could work that way, but the problem is — what happens when the other providers start cherry-picking, too? When all the docs start refusing to treat the undesireable patients? Where will that woman get care then?

By: Doc Edwards

Doc Edwards — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:04:28 +0000

No one understands the real issue here.

By law, you lose your Florida license to practice medicine after three malpractice suits.

And no one gets sued more than the OB docs. Mega-sleeze John Edwards and many other crooked shysters make vast fortunes off the obstetricians.

By: The Cynical Pharmacist

The Cynical Pharmacist — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:28:49 +0000

Ask me how many times I’ve went into a store that had a sign on the door that read – “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service”?

Why are other professions given the benefit of refusal of service, but not healthcare providers?

There was a ton of outrage in the media when hospitals first decided not to employee smokers, even though smoking is a leading cause of poor health, and other employers/professions had similar restrictions beforehand.

The same can be said about pharmacists whom refuse to dispense Plan-B based on their personal religious beliefs.

For some weird reason, our rights are considered to be secondary to anyone else’s rights. The funny part of it all is that the people who bitch the loudest are almost always the ones who could have prevented the problem they’re having in the first place.

By: Pattie, RN

Pattie, RN — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:31:37 +0000

Has anyone here ever been in the delivery room with a morbid obese mom? (although it tends by far to be the OR). I have attended many such births, and the landmarks are obscured, the fundus almost impossible to locate, excessive bleeding is the norm, and nurses get hurt-badly-trying to support the leg of a 450 pounder trying to push.

Hell yes, I’d love to be able to send them elsewhere, and these docs should be able to. Sadly, the nurses in L&D are stuck with whatever obese/high/no prenatal care/crack addicted patient that wheels in with a baby wanting OUT.

By: Ian Random

Ian Random — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 06:04:15 +0000

As someone who is twice the man he should be (360lbs), I support a doctor’s right to refuse treatment. I always laugh when my allergist says reflexively to update him should I be put on high blood pressure medicine. My blood pressure is 125/89 usually and I’m a couch potato (not by choice).

By: “More risk of getting sued…”

“More risk of getting sued…” — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 01:48:48 +0000

[...] Some Florida ob-gyns turn away seriously overweight patients, who face a greater risk of complications in pregnancy [Sun-Sentinel/Palm Beach Post] More: White Coat. [...]

By: Doc99

Doc99 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:45:25 +0000

I recall that Shaq at the height of his career would have been labeled “Obese” by BMI criteria.