71–80 of 239 posts
No real diagnosis, just a quick assumption that, "Hey, this person looks like they're in great shape. They'll get better one way of the other. I have bigger fish to fry."
Just curious.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't even work in software, but it just makes sense considering most of what they do is looking up factoids in a textbook. They frequently misdiagnose or let things slip by because there's just no way for humans to memorize that many books.
Wow. Who knew that medicine and library science were the same thing? Come to think of it, I bet librarians could replace lawyers, too. Just need to teach them to shout "objection" and be jerks in the coffee room, right?
I'm disappointed by the lack of empathy in these comments. While I agree that yes, an obese person needs to lose weight, telling them that and offering no other help is like telling someone with depression "why don't you just cheer up?" It's totally unuseful advice that incorporate all sorts of gross value judgments about the person. It doesn't solve problems. I've been overweight - not obese, but close at times - al…
It's infuriating. HN commenters will fall over themselves to rail against discrimination, real or imagined, against women and minorities, but it's perfectly OK to insult, demean, and minimize the problems of big people. They know nothing about their lives, why they are big, what their health problems come from, what they've tried to lose weight. It's easy to dismiss them as weak willed disgusting blobs of fat, ignori…
I don't think that's true at all. The people that are most described by the latter are also, often, the HN posters most opposed to the former. THere's, obviously, some differences here, but not to the extent of your description.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surgery isn't riskless. This source shows knee surgery has serious complications in 2% of cases. That's for all patients. But it states the risk of knee fracture is higher for overweight patients. http://www.zimmer.com/patients-caregivers/article/knee/knee-... Here's a source specific to overweight patients. Obesity is often comorbid with conditions that make it harder to heal and increase the risk of infection, such…
From the article: "But there should not be blanket refusals to operate on fat people, the committee wrote. Those with a body mass index over 40 — like a 5-foot-5-inch woman weighing 250 pounds or a 6-foot man weighing 300 — and who cannot lose weight should be informed that their risks are greater, but they should not be categorically dismissed, the group concluded." It's really simple. You can inform people of the i…
I don't know anyone who would disagree with this sentiment. And the article doesn't present any evidence that there are blanket refusals. Sure, the article presents a few anecdotes, but that's not enough to show that blanket refusals are happening on a larger scale.
> You can inform people of the increased risks and possible outcomes and let them make their own decisions about their bodies.
It's really not that simple. A medical doctor's mission is to help people and very specifically to "do no harm". When the data suggests that they are more likely to do harm by operating, then the doctor is following their oath by not performing a surgery.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surgery isn't riskless. This source shows knee surgery has serious complications in 2% of cases. That's for all patients. But it states the risk of knee fracture is higher for overweight patients. http://www.zimmer.com/patients-caregivers/article/knee/knee-... Here's a source specific to overweight patients. Obesity is often comorbid with conditions that make it harder to heal and increase the risk of infection, such…
From the article: "But there should not be blanket refusals to operate on fat people, the committee wrote. Those with a body mass index over 40 — like a 5-foot-5-inch woman weighing 250 pounds or a 6-foot man weighing 300 — and who cannot lose weight should be informed that their risks are greater, but they should not be categorically dismissed, the group concluded." It's really simple. You can inform people of the i…
Curious...have any individuals ever found the reverse to be true? Doctor takes a look at patient (who presumably appears to be in very good shape) and quickly draws the conclusion, "You're working/training too hard. Just take a break." No real diagnosis, just a quick assumption that, "Hey, this person looks like they're in great shape. They'll get better one way of the other. I have bigger fish to fry." Just curious.
Being athletic is not a medical condition.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Plus, you suggest that because the way to lose weight is clear (it is), that makes it easy. > > There are safe, reliable, and well-understood ways to lose weight. They're not easy The poster you are replying to specifically said it wasn't easy.
Yes, but then he goes on to suggest that it IS easier than dealing with depression. I think that while that is probably true, it is not true by much, and not true enough to make a distinction here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surgery isn't riskless. This source shows knee surgery has serious complications in 2% of cases. That's for all patients. But it states the risk of knee fracture is higher for overweight patients. http://www.zimmer.com/patients-caregivers/article/knee/knee-... Here's a source specific to overweight patients. Obesity is often comorbid with conditions that make it harder to heal and increase the risk of infection, such…
From the article: "But there should not be blanket refusals to operate on fat people, the committee wrote. Those with a body mass index over 40 — like a 5-foot-5-inch woman weighing 250 pounds or a 6-foot man weighing 300 — and who cannot lose weight should be informed that their risks are greater, but they should not be categorically dismissed, the group concluded." It's really simple. You can inform people of the i…
Why would a doctor let his patient take on a risk that he isn't willing to perform? Patients should not get 100% say in their treatments. If there's a high mortality rate for something as trivial as knee pain, then the compassionate thing would be to refuse that operation and look at alternatives like pills or physical therapy. Having that person's family deal with 'suicide by doctor' is a non-starter here. This is like saying mechanics should respect the wishes of people who want to output their exhaust into the cabin. Afterall, the customer is always right!
Also, people in pain aren't terribly rational and don't make good decisions. Doctors should be the gatekeepers here on a certain level. I shouldn't be able to demand surgery willy-nilly and expect doctors and surgeons to act like a concierge service. Surgery is a serious risk and no one is going to casually perform malpractice here. Worse, knee repair is a tricky thing. If your knee can't support 300+lbs then a repair is only going to be a temporary solution until you damage it again, which will probably be soon after. We're not engineered to handle these kinds of loads, thus the weight loss recommendation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This seems like an unfair characterization of the article. Denial of care, or dangerously mismeasured care, is not acceptable simply based on BMI (a non-scientific measure invented in the early 1800s). If you look at the statistics on weight loss success rates, asking a 500lbs person to lose 200+lbs before you're willing to treat their disease with actual evidence-based medicine—looking at symptoms, pathology, etc—is…
> Denial of care, or dangerously mismeasured care, is not acceptable simply based on BMI (a non-scientific measure invented in the early 1800s). How did you conclude that BMI is non-scientific? Did you know that Centigrade was invented in the early 1800s, and the first realization of the metric system was in 1799? BMI definitely isn't accurate for people with high lean body mass, but the patients in this article aren…
> I'd like to see those statistics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10449014
"Data from the scientific community indicate that a 15-wk diet or diet plus exercise program produces a weight loss of about 11 kg with a 60-80% maintenance after 1 yr. Although long-term follow-up data are meager, the data that do exist suggest almost complete relapse after 3-5 yr."
And that's 11kg… the situation described above is 90kg. You're essentially telling someone to go away and come back after 2+years of dieting to get medical care. Don't you think that seems unrealistic?
I'm disappointed by the lack of empathy in these comments. While I agree that yes, an obese person needs to lose weight, telling them that and offering no other help is like telling someone with depression "why don't you just cheer up?" It's totally unuseful advice that incorporate all sorts of gross value judgments about the person. It doesn't solve problems. I've been overweight - not obese, but close at times - al…
Disagreeing with the article and agreeing with that they lose weight does NOT imply lacking empathy. Then entire article states some ridiculous claims. If you're obese, it is a danger to your health. If go then go to a doctor what do you expect the doctor to do? Ignore this because the person might not want to hear it? You're rephrasing things with "just lose weight": nobody said it is easy to lose weight. But if you…
That's true. Dismissing the studies cited in the article clearly showing that doctors do give inferior care (particularly, in being less willing to refer for medically-appropriate diagnostic tests) to obese people (which, incidentally, inhibits their ability to give useful direction to those people on how to safely and effectively lose weight) goes beyond mere lack of empathy the whole way to willful ignorance and active hostility.