yer fat! i'll sue!- Page 2

[Orpheum]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:31pm

Dare I ask to actually see any of these twice mentioned scads?

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 06:31 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:32pm

How many stories have I heard about people who were made fun of or realized what they were missing out on and decided to lose weight.

Many.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:33pm

It is known one of the main rason for escalating health care costs is the unnescessary tests doctors do to keep from being sued. It is called defensive medicine. Many obstetricians have given up practice because of soaring malpractice insurance make it unprofitable to continue

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:40pm

many doctors have given up practices...really? Where did they go to Wal-mart?

And speaking of that wonderful company who is actually the model for corporations who dream of making their employees insignificant; Wal-Mart on their employee application asks potential employees hundreds of questions to see if they are pre-disposed to a lot of things. One of the questions is " Do you agree with an employer if they catch an employee stealing, they give the employee 2 options. Either they are immidiately fired or they can spend a determined amount of time(day, week) in front of the establishment wearing a sign that says "I stole from this store and this is my punishment." This was actually one of over 200 questions I had to answer to be considered for employment.


Updated On: 8/25/05 at 06:40 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:47pm

I applied to Wal-Mart when I was in college. I had to do that double-speak questionnaire as well. After zoning out after about question 50, I wound up stating in one question that I felt it was all right for employee to steal as long as the amount was rather insignificant.

Needless to say I didn't get the job. I also don't shop there. Part of it is political, and part of it is that it's just so damn depressing to walk through one of their stores.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:48pm

It has little to do with the malpractice suits themselves, but nearly all of the blame can be placed on the uber-greedy insurance companies who rip off the doctors, when they are supposed to be protecting them...

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:51pm

It's a problem that befalls anyone who deals with any sort of liability insurance (auto, homeowner, etc). They're happy to take your dough as long as you pay without incident, but once you have to actually use the service for which you are paying you often run the risk of being dropped.

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:52pm

temporary thread jack-- Kringas it is sooooo depressing walking through those stores. Our door greeter (I did get the job and lasted 5 months) usually had soiled pants. Yes, it's what you think.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:53pm

Let's start with one article that won't bog you down with a lot of medicalese, Orph, and please note this very telling quote:

"Patients respond to medical shame or the fear of it by avoiding the healthcare system, withholding information, complaining, and suing."
Shame: the elephant in the room

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 6:56pm

If you're more of an abstract and full-publication lover, Orph, try:
"Guilt, Fear, Stigma and Knowledge Gaps"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:10pm

I'd also recommend the article, "Prevention of child obesity: ‘First, do no harm’" by Jennifer A. O'Dea, but it costs to get that article. Do a lit search if you want it.
Shaming somebody, would definitely fall under her definition of doing harm, and she demonstrates how it has the exact opposite effect that the shamer would think.

As I said, there are scads more. Many with preferred British spelling.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:12pm

I guess the uber greedy trial lawyers who sue @ the drop of a hat have nothing to do with it. Ask doctors who is to blame ? I will bet a sizeable amount of money what they will tell you.

It is easy to blame the insurance companies but strangely trial lawyers get no blame @ all

Namo I cannot read your posts so you are wasting your breath. Just thought I would tell you

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 07:12 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:12pm

Obesity is a complicated issue. The "get off your ass and stop scarfing down Milky Ways" approach, which might be effective and appropriate advice for a small subset of the obese, is a pretty superficial approach which totally ignores the fact that more often than not there are multifactorial causes of obesity. To name a few, impaired mobility, endocrine disorders, psychiatric conditions, and a multitude of socioeconomic factors can all contribute to obesity. Is it a disease? Absolutely. Is there an element of "self-inflicted"? Often. But even so, it doesn't change the fact that it is a disease. Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Is lung cancer a disease? Sure. Unprotected sex with an HIV positive individual can result in AIDS. Is AIDS a disease? Of course.

It is very, very easy to be judgemental about someone else's weaknesses. On the other hand, I don't want to totally exonerate obese people from partial responsitility for their state, any more than I believe that cigarette smokers or people with sexually acquired diseases have not contributed to their condition. But that's different than judging or blaming. The problems are all very real, but if behavior modification was all that easily done, obesity, lung cancer and AIDS wouldn't be the problems they are today.

As for the doctor in the story, while he seems to be an insensitive pig and he wouldn't ever be *my* physician... I still find the lawsuit to be frivilous.

Lawsuits are driving malpractice insurance through the roof to the point where some doctors can no longer afford to practice, and I personally know several physicians who have closed up shop and moved on to a second career. We've made it impossible for Marcus Welby to exist.

[kjklo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:19pm

To return to the thread title and some of the comments, the way I read the article, the woman is not suing and has filed no lawsuit. It appears that she has filed some sort of formal complaint with the state medical board. That still seems more than a little excessive, but it's not quite the same thing as a malpractice suit. Anyway, that was my interpretation. I do find it odd that the doctor states he has a specific lecture for obese female patients. I wonder what he tells his obese male patients? There are plenty of bullying and condescending physicians out there without a doubt. Best to just drop them and go elsewhere.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:20pm

Marcus Welby never shamed anybody, up to and including Robert Reed when he got gender reassingment surgery.

And Roxy, none of my posts are EVER intended for you. Besides, I'm typing not talking. It wouldn't be breath I was wasting so much as tapping on keys. Which I was doing for Orph, anyway, so who asked you?

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 07:20 PM

[Orpheum]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:21pm

Thanks for your posts iflitifloat and FindingNamo - they've enlightened me. And good to know that you would never shame or embarass anyone, Namo, not even about spelling!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:23pm

That was my point in making that reference, Orph.

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 07:23 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:23pm

Well said Iflit

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:24pm

What an asshole.

[Orpheum]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:28pm

I wasn't being disingenuous when I said, sorry, typed that your posts enlightened me - they did. I hope not to make an enemy out of you, though!

[yodamarie78]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:28pm

Having spent a fair amount of time on the Weight Watchers message boards I can tell you that for the majority of people on there shame and ridicule did nothing. Obese people know they are fat, they don't need someone to tell them. Losing a significant amount of weight is a very personal decision and will not happen until the person is ready to face their problem and deal with it. No amount of shame is going to help someone who is not ready to make that kind of lifestyle change.

Namo, have I told you lately that I love you?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:30pm

"No amount of shame is going to help someone who is not ready to make that kind of lifestyle change."

In fact, ymarie, it very often reinforces the unhealthy behavior. And ain't love grand?

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:37pm

You want to know who is to blame, Roxy? (I hadn't read your post when I posted my previous thoughts...) It's not the doctors and it's not the trial lawyers. It's us. It's the people who think that nothing bad can happen, medically, that isn't someone's fault. And it's the fault of the people who HIRE the trial lawyers. Trial lawyers exist because there is a demand for them. They don't exist in a vacuum. We, as a society, have allowed this dynamic to blossom and spiral out of control.

[kjklo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:37pm

To repeat, he's the subject of a bureaucratic regulatory hearing. He's not on trial for anything, and he's not being sued for damages, so why go off on a tirade about trial lawyers?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 7:41pm

Because "trial lawyer" is code for "John Edwards" is code for "liberal."

Funny, isn't it, Iflit, that "the marketplace" is justification for all sorts of evil Republican favorite things but "the marketplace" is no excuse for the existence of trial lawyers or porn or the other things that exist thanks to capitalism?