Texas hospital bans obese workers?

Cjoseph03

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/

LilMissDB

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

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

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

By the way my application would be trashed because I am 35.4BMI. Does not matter that I used to be 45BMI.

cubbies77

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

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

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

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

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

What about the employees who already work there with a BMI over 35? This is just stupid....

MissAMcDowell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

nataliefallbach

IF THIS IS TRUE, I SMELL A LAWSUIT COMING ON! STUPID!

cuterbee

You know, if that's what they want, they should serve healthy food in their hospital cafeteria, give nurses longer than 30 minutes for lunch, put in a small workout room with exercise machines, and have a lower patient-to-nurse ratio to cut back on stress for their workers. This is particularly important for people who work grave or swing, and even more important if they rotate shifts.

If they don't want obese workers, then they really need to take responsibility for some of the problems they are actively promoting. You can't expect healthy workers if you don't provide a healthy atmosphere.

MyOwnSunshine

You know, if that's what they want, they should serve healthy food in their hospital cafeteria, give nurses longer than 30 minutes for lunch, put in a small workout room with exercise machines, and have a lower patient-to-nurse ratio to cut back on stress for their workers. This is particularly important for people who work grave or swing, and even more important if they rotate shifts.

If they don't want obese workers, then they really need to take responsibility for some of the problems they are actively promoting. You can't expect healthy workers if you don't provide a healthy atmosphere.

Amen to that!

leketchup

Nearly there

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.

To US folks, I think this is harsh a little.

nataliefallbach

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.

WHATEVER!
HEALTHY BMI DOESN'T = HEALTHY ALL THE TIME. THIS IS DISCRIMINATION & WE SHOULDN'T TOLERATE IT.
ITS A SLIPPERY SLOPE. WHAT IS NEXT????

underwater77

You know, if that's what they want, they should serve healthy food in their hospital cafeteria, give nurses longer than 30 minutes for lunch, put in a small workout room with exercise machines, and have a lower patient-to-nurse ratio to cut back on stress for their workers. This is particularly important for people who work grave or swing, and even more important if they rotate shifts.

If they don't want obese workers, then they really need to take responsibility for some of the problems they are actively promoting. You can't expect healthy workers if you don't provide a healthy atmosphere.

That's a little much, don't you think? We are all responsible for our own health and well being. I don't expect my employer to provide such things. Sure it would be nice, but when it comes down to it, it is my doing. I worked 7p-7a for 5 years and I know ****ty ratios. We were 4:1 and we took vented patients on Tele. When it came down to it, I knew I had to bring my veggies, get to the gym first thing after work, and be extra cautious on my days off.

Chibea

You know, if that's what they want, they should serve healthy food in their hospital cafeteria, give nurses longer than 30 minutes for lunch, put in a small workout room with exercise machines, and have a lower patient-to-nurse ratio to cut back on stress for their workers. This is particularly important for people who work grave or swing, and even more important if they rotate shifts.

If they don't want obese workers, then they really need to take responsibility for some of the problems they are actively promoting. You can't expect healthy workers if you don't provide a healthy atmosphere.

This!

Food4Fuel

Absolutely not outraged by this, If you can't take care of yourself in this field and it effects your ability to do your job compared to a healthier individual why should you be entitled to the position. The hospital doesn't owe you a position. Not to mention hospirals often gives great medical insurance coverage to their employees, if you don't think company's are not going to start being penalized for offering coverage to people who don't take care of themselves you'd be wrong. Fact is if you have 2 applicants to a position that requires you to be active, one is out if shape and unhealthy the other a healthier individual, in the healthcare industry mind you, which one do you think you should hire. This is just the beginning of the health care industry as well as other industries being proactive against this issue. I'm a student nurse.

MissJanet55

How is this different from refusing to hire people of different races based on an assumption that is nothing more than bigotry?

BMI doesn't measure health, and can be badly skewed when people have a lot of muscle mass. As many people said, it depends on the person. And it depends on the job.

Better that the hospital support people's efforts to be healthy. I have worked for companies that subsidized gym memberships and make sure healthy snacks are in vending machines. Why not go this way instead of discriminating against people? Sometimes I think that the last legitimate prejudice is against fat people. (I'm not saying it IS legitimate, I'm saying people, and now corporations, have no shame about expressing it.

JingleMuffin

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.

indeed to all