sorry, you're too fat to live here...
Obese chef weighing 20 stone six pounds who is being kicked out of New Zealand for being too fat
Albert Buitenhuis was told he was too heavy to stay in New Zealand
Weighs 20 stone six pounds, five stone less than when he moved there
He and wife Marthie are facing deportation from their Christchurch home
Albert is five feet ten inches tall and has a Body Mass Index of 40
link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380021/Albert-Buitenhuis-New-Zealand-kicks-obese-man-country-290lbs-heavy.html
It seems one of the main reasons he may have to leave NZ is the potential social and health costs be poses in the future.
Is this fair? He weighs a little under 300lbs...
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Replies
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No. It isn't fair.0
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I wonder if smokers, extreme sport athletes, or even anyone with a whiff of a mental illness will be next...0
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apparently it's the law there. I can understand that a country would want to screen their potential immigrants for medical problems - because if someone's medical problems become more difficult, it does fall on 'the country' to deal
and let's face it - i don't know the laws in NZ, but every country has their concept of who they allow to immigrate and who they don't - for whatever reasons (money, potential income, mental health, criminals...)0 -
This article really irritated me this morning. This guy has made actual progress towards improving his health, and all they can see is how much he weighs.0
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Wow! That's crazy. I wonder if it would be different if they were citizens but not there under a visa? Not that it is right, either way, but I'm curious.0
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I wonder if smokers, extreme sport athletes, or even anyone with a whiff of a mental illness will be next...
A fair question. What's the difference between the health risks associated with obesity vs. health risks of smoking? Why target just this one group?0 -
apparently it's the law there. I can understand that a country would want to screen their potential immigrants for medical problems - because if someone's medical problems become more difficult, it does fall on 'the country' to deal
The thing is he has been there for 6 years and is 60lbs lighter than when he was first let in.
Seems a bit harsh to kick out a productive member of society over problems he may (or very well may not have in fact) in the future.0 -
NZ has a right to deny citizenship and visas to whomever it chooses.
What's interesting is that the US would be all over the news and being flamed over something like this. We're not allowed to deny anyone for any reason ever without major backlash.
Where are the memes about how much fat people contribute to the NZ society???0 -
their country. their rules. iif they had just passed the law this year and kicked him out without warning that would be unfair.
and he's been there 6 years and only lost 60 pounds? seems to me they were giving him a chance and have finally said enough is enough.0 -
Wow.0
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Perhaps they're afraid he'll sink their little island?0
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The article mentions that NZ is the country with the third highest rate of obesity in the world, so I can somewhat understand their requirement for immigrants to have less than 35 BMI especially since they have universal healthcare. Every country has its own health requirement for immigrants, the U.S. included. By law you can't immigrate to USA if you have tuberculosis, among other things.
Albert had 6 years to study the regulation and improve his condition. He's currently 286 lbs and he needs to be 244 to meet the requirement. I have seen many people here on MFP losing 42 lbs in just a year.
Yeah, yeah, I can see people flocking here saying "but being fat is not necessarily unhealthy" and all that. It's true that not every obese person is unhealthy, just like not every teenager drives irresponsibly, but on average obese people have higher health risk just like teenage drivers have higher auto accident rate.0 -
Perhaps they're afraid he'll sink their little island?
hahaha :happy:0 -
Let him come to Great Britain....we let every fvcker in here......0
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They made Peter Jackson lose weight.0
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Let him come to Great Britain....we let every fvcker in here......
Yeah, if Britain didn't let fatties in, I would never have got in!
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New Zealands answer to soaring health costs??? Were going to be in a whole heaping **** pile of trouble if America enacts any laws like that!!! lol0
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If he's there on a Visa doesn't he require his own private insurance?0
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What??0
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I grew up larger and lived with a larger family. I wish there were incentives for people to lose weight. I realize that sounds silly but there are some people who are just content on being 350+ lbs their entire lives. It's not my job to make these people eat right and workout but I wonder as a nation what we could accomplish if we were healthier in general.
Maybe do something like the Japanese did to control the rate of births? I'm not sure what the answer would be.0 -
People get pissed but their healthcare will benefit because people will actually try and maintain healthy lifestyles!0
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That's what you get!0
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The article mentions that NZ is the country with the third highest rate of obesity in the world, so I can somewhat understand their requirement for immigrants to have less than 35 BMI especially since they have universal healthcare. Every country has its own health requirement for immigrants, the U.S. included. By law you can't immigrate to USA if you have tuberculosis, among other things.
Albert had 6 years to study the regulation and improve his condition. He's currently 286 lbs and he needs to be 244 to meet the requirement. I have seen many people here on MFP losing 42 lbs in just a year.
Yeah, yeah, I can see people flocking here saying "but being fat is not necessarily unhealthy" and all that. It's true that not every obese person is unhealthy, just like not every teenager drives irresponsibly, but on average obese people have higher health risk just like teenage drivers have higher auto accident rate.
This is very well put and exactly what I was thinking. It may not be fair, but the law is the law. The US has laws as well, some of which are unfair, but hey - this guy had 6 years to lose 42 pounds. That's averaging 7 pounds a year. Not unreasonable.0 -
I think it depends. If he is working (which it sounded like he was) and paying his own health costs, then no, it is not fair. If he has applied for some kind of health assistance, then the government has the right to deny him assistance, but forcing him to leave the country seems extreme.
Are they going to go round up all the obese immigrants and deport them?0 -
He should sneak in the country then get amnesty0
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Every country has its own health requirement for immigrants, the U.S. included. By law you can't immigrate to USA if you have tuberculosis, among other things.
Yeah, but that requirement is to avoid the spread of disease, not to keep a global statistic low.0 -
I think it depends. If he is working (which it sounded like he was) and paying his own health costs, then no, it is not fair. If he has applied for some kind of health assistance, then the government has the right to deny him assistance, but forcing him to leave the country seems extreme.
Are they going to go round up all the obese immigrants and deport them?
But he could go use the healthcare provided by the state, I wish Canada would do something like this!0 -
I think it depends. If he is working (which it sounded like he was) and paying his own health costs, then no, it is not fair. If he has applied for some kind of health assistance, then the government has the right to deny him assistance, but forcing him to leave the country seems extreme.
Are they going to go round up all the obese immigrants and deport them?
But he could go use the healthcare provided by the state, I wish Canada would do something like this!
Yeah, I didn't realize we were talking about national health care at the time I posted that comment. But it seems to me, he could still be denied and referred to privatized health care. Or does private health care not exist in a nationalized health care system?0 -
Could you imagine how many less immigrants our country would have if we had that law? Dang.0
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Basically if you're at risk of HIV,hepatitis B and C,most cancers, will need major transplants,progressive renal disorders,
osteoarthritis,motor neurone disease, epilepsy, cardiac disease or BMI over 35 the state doesn't want you registered.
But you could just go private.0
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