Texas hospital bans obese workers?

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Cjoseph03
Cjoseph03 Posts: 107 Member
in Chit-Chat
Only applicants with a BMI of <35 are even considered for a job...And this is something that might catch on like only hiring nonsmokers...

Is anyone else outraged about this? They say that worker with a BMI >35 cannot do their job effectively! What a crock of crap. I do my job a hell of a lot better than people with BMIs of <20!

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/04/09/texas-hospital-fat-people-bmi-need-not-apply

http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/
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  • LilMissDB
    LilMissDB Posts: 133
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    Is anyone else outraged about this? They say that worker with a BMI >35 cannot do their job effectively! What a crock of crap. I do my job a hell of a lot better than people with BMIs of <20!

    I guess it depends on the person - they seem to be assuming that all people with a BMI > 35 sit around all day and therefore have no energy at all for work which is of course not necessarily the case.
  • Cjoseph03
    Cjoseph03 Posts: 107 Member
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    It does depend on the person and it has nothing to do with their BMI. To generalize everyone and only hire those with a certain BMI is ridiculous.
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
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    At my last job I knew a guy that was almost 500 pounds and he did his job very effectively, even if he was doused in sweat and huffing and puffing from just delivering documents.
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
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    By the way my application would be trashed because I am 35.4BMI. Does not matter that I used to be 45BMI.
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    That's kind of bizarre. I had no issue standing on my feet for hours at a time when I was around a BMI of 40. I was also very flexible too. I did a lot of stage prep, which involved ducking under things, fitting through crew access points, pulling myself up on stuff, etc. I could definitely help lift a patient and push a wheelchair at that weight.

    Now, if they want their employees to be examples for the patients, then they should at least call a spade a spade and not hide it behind some language about it being for safety or whatever. And even then, just because your BMI is "healthy" doesn't mean you're "healthy". You just LOOK healthy.
  • underwater77
    underwater77 Posts: 331 Member
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    if that is the reason - the effectiveness of the employee, then i think it is wrong. but if it is along the same lines of not hiring smokers/healthcare costs, etc., i think it's fair.
  • sezhep
    sezhep Posts: 57
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    Ridiculous saying they can't do their jobs effectively...

    But I can understand how it doesn't set a very good example, especially if it's in an area where obesity is a major problem.
    Shame 'cause "cuddly" nurses are always the nicest it seems! Haha :$
  • MissAMcDowell
    MissAMcDowell Posts: 14
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    My personal opinion is that if you're working within a hospital, for whatever inside or outside company, you represent them, so you should also represent what they stand for, health.

    It kind of makes me think of working within a bank, if you have horrible credit and have not made any effort to pay/maintain your debts, they screen you, and you will not be offered a job. Why? Because they dont want someone who owes money, cannot represent the banks expectations of their clients and esp. give advice if they havent been able to breathe it in and put it into practice in their own lives.
  • sa11yjane
    sa11yjane Posts: 491 Member
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    Wow, that is actually very scary...hopefully not a slippery slope that will be followed by other companies...Dreadful and blatant discrimination and it should be challenged.
  • Kitship
    Kitship Posts: 579 Member
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    What about the employees who already work there with a BMI over 35? This is just stupid....
  • MissAMcDowell
    MissAMcDowell Posts: 14
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    Plus they dont determine much now with BMI's , so its kind of crazy to hear that. They would do a full examination of the body. BMI can be incorrect (doesnt factor in muscle) and can be determined many ways.
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
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    My personal opinion is that if you're working within a hospital, for whatever inside or outside company, you represent them, so you should also represent what they stand for, health.

    It kind of makes me think of working within a bank, if you have horrible credit and have not made any effort to pay/maintain your debts, they screen you, and you will not be offered a job. Why? Because they dont want someone who owes money, cannot represent the banks expectations of their clients and esp. give advice if they havent been able to breathe it in and put it into practice in their own lives.

    This is how I see it too, however I think we're going to be in the minority here.
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    My personal opinion is that if you're working within a hospital, for whatever inside or outside company, you represent them, so you should also represent what they stand for, health.

    It kind of makes me think of working within a bank, if you have horrible credit and have not made any effort to pay/maintain your debts, they screen you, and you will not be offered a job. Why? Because they dont want someone who owes money, cannot represent the banks expectations of their clients and esp. give advice if they havent been able to breathe it in and put it into practice in their own lives.

    Thin does not always equal healthy. They could hire someone who has a perfect BMI, but that doesn't mean they don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol from eating the wrong foods, drinking too much coffee, etc.
  • ma_oeuvre
    ma_oeuvre Posts: 123
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    Over in the UK they're trying to stop benefits for obese people. Oh, the irony. Let's hope banning obese workers doesn't catch on over here.
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
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    My personal opinion is that if you're working within a hospital, for whatever inside or outside company, you represent them, so you should also represent what they stand for, health.

    It kind of makes me think of working within a bank, if you have horrible credit and have not made any effort to pay/maintain your debts, they screen you, and you will not be offered a job. Why? Because they dont want someone who owes money, cannot represent the banks expectations of their clients and esp. give advice if they havent been able to breathe it in and put it into practice in their own lives.

    Thin does not always equal healthy. They could hire someone who has a perfect BMI, but that doesn't mean they don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol from eating the wrong foods, drinking too much coffee, etc.

    This is true. BMI is not an indication of health. Just that you are in the targeted weight range for your height. I think HEALTHY people should only be allowed to work at hospitals, as far as the lifestyles they lead. You should be healthy so you can set a good example for your patients. My opinion.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    I do feel that we will see more of this as companies try to better afford the insurance on their employees. There are problems though with regard to this policy, not related to a question to true fitness level.

    MOST NFL players are really fit.. yet they are technically obese. They have a great deal of muscle mass... therefore, they have a higher than 30 BMI... BMI is a poor and inaccurate measure of fitness. If they are going to do something like this, quite frankly, they need to use body fat percentage as an indicator of fitness. Also, if they are going to do this, they need to be required to offer support for current employess to come within compliance.. this should include both physical and emotional support.
  • jflori
    jflori Posts: 25
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    My personal opinion is that if you're working within a hospital, for whatever inside or outside company, you represent them, so you should also represent what they stand for, health.

    It kind of makes me think of working within a bank, if you have horrible credit and have not made any effort to pay/maintain your debts, they screen you, and you will not be offered a job. Why? Because they dont want someone who owes money, cannot represent the banks expectations of their clients and esp. give advice if they havent been able to breathe it in and put it into practice in their own lives.

    This is how I see it too, however I think we're going to be in the minority here.

    yep, i totally agree. i don't think it's unfair to not want unhealthy people representing a health facility.
  • MyOwnSunshine
    MyOwnSunshine Posts: 1,312 Member
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    That's pretty sad. If you looked around the hospital where I work, probably 35% of the employees would have a BMI greater than 35.

    I will say that I was an excellent nurse with a BMI of 40, and although my quality of life is better with a BMI of 25, I don't think that my nursing practice would be improved, as I was always one of the best nurses on any floor that I worked.

    One of the issues that hospitals face is that most are self-insured, meaning they create and fund their own employee insurance plan, which means that they absorb the costs that chronically ill and very unhealthy employees incur. Unfortunately, the few extremely unhealthy employees are the ones that cost the most money to the insurance plan. It probably makes business sense to weed out the employees who have expensive chronic illness like uncontrolled diabetes and heart disease. Eliminating morbidly obese employees would probably benefit their health plans to a certain extent.

    Unfortunately, you cannot measure intelligence, compassion and experience with BMI, so once again, hospitals are forgetting that providing the absolute best quality patient care should come before the accounting numbers. Sad state of affairs and the reason that health care in the US is failing at such a great rate compared to the health care in the rest of the world. As long as accountants and MBAs run hospitals, patient care will suffer.
  • underwater77
    underwater77 Posts: 331 Member
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    Wow, that is actually very scary...hopefully not a slippery slope that will be followed by other companies...Dreadful and blatant discrimination and it should be challenged.

    IMO, the slippery slope began with not hiring smokers.
  • jennifersue88
    jennifersue88 Posts: 89
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    I do feel that we will see more of this as companies try to better afford the insurance on their employees. There are problems though with regard to this policy, not related to a question to true fitness level.

    MOST NFL players are really fit.. yet they are technically obese. They have a great deal of muscle mass... therefore, they have a higher than 30 BMI... BMI is a poor and inaccurate measure of fitness. If they are going to do something like this, quite frankly, they need to use body fat percentage as an indicator of fitness. Also, if they are going to do this, they need to be required to offer support for current employess to come within compliance.. this should include both physical and emotional support.

    VWS!

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