I just don't care about the 'obesity epidemic'

I get your point about people with no particular reason judging others for obesity but let me tell you why people at the coal face of health care are concerned. I work in a smallish publicly funded hospital. Over the last couple of years we have spent thousands of dollars (AU) on new bariatric equipment to cope with our growing obesity problem - beds, wheelchairs, scales, toilets, blood pressure cuffs, operating tables, patient handling equipment - but we still dont have enough to cope. A new policy is being developed (apparantly) where if a ward has two or more patients of a high BMI they will have to close beds because each of those obese patients need more nursing staff to look after them and that means there arent enough nurses to go around. My colleague is now on the waiting list for back surgery because she had to lift up an obese ladies leg in order to insert a urinary catheter. The patient was to obese to get to the toilet, the reason for her immobility was obesity and no other condition.

Replicate this over every hospital in every health care system in every part of the western world and you have a phenomenal problem.

Obese people cost 40% more a year in health care related expenses than a "normal" weight person. As a rule they do not pay more for health insurance than a "normal" size person, i.e., there is a cost that is spread to people who can push away from the table. Statistically obese people call in "sick" to work more often and file more workers comp claims (not to mention health care workers who are injured taking care of obese patients-happens all the time), so again, money.

It isn't about aesthetics, it's about money.

Old people are a real pain the a** too then.

Except aging isn't preventable.. Unless you kill people off before they get old. Try again.

So should we throw people in jail for being overweight? :huh:

How did you make that leap? I never suggested such a ridiculous thing.

So what's your point then? You seem really miffed that you're "paying more than your share" because obese people are freeloading on government sponsored healthcare or whatever. ::shrug::

I didn't say it's not a problem. But I didn't say they should be put in jail. Get a grip lady.

So, you got nothing, basically. :huh:

I've got plenty. I wasn't going to dignify your bad attitude and rude responses ..While I'm here though I'll point out I live in Canada where we have free (well taxes pay for it) health care and I don't have a problem paying taxes for ANYONE to get health care no matter what the reason for that need may be. Whether it's because they smoke, are obese, enjoy jumping in front of trains or whatever.. it's not about personal greed. But I'm sure there would be extra tax money to spend elsewhere as a whole if less people were obese, smoked, etc. My concern is more about the welfare of the people though.. there are so many diseases and yes, early deaths, associated with obesity, and I'm sure many families are affected emotionally by the toll it takes (not to mention those who are obese themselves). If it's possible to reduce the problem, why not? Wouldn't it be a GOOD thing if less people died too early?? There should be more education and emphasis on activity, especially with children so that they learn good lifelong habits early on.

I get your point about people with no particular reason judging others for obesity but let me tell you why people at the coal face of health care are concerned. I work in a smallish publicly funded hospital. Over the last couple of years we have spent thousands of dollars (AU) on new bariatric equipment to cope with our growing obesity problem - beds, wheelchairs, scales, toilets, blood pressure cuffs, operating tables, patient handling equipment - but we still dont have enough to cope. A new policy is being developed (apparantly) where if a ward has two or more patients of a high BMI they will have to close beds because each of those obese patients need more nursing staff to look after them and that means there arent enough nurses to go around. My colleague is now on the waiting list for back surgery because she had to lift up an obese ladies leg in order to insert a urinary catheter. The patient was to obese to get to the toilet, the reason for her immobility was obesity and no other condition.

Replicate this over every hospital in every health care system in every part of the western world and you have a phenomenal problem.

The problem is that people don't make any distinction between immobile morbidly obese persons (who clearly have other issues the lead to their situation), and your average person who is 50-100 pounds overweight. There's a big difference between these conditions, but people act like if you're 50 pounds overweight, you're as bad as the 500 pound person who can't even walk. And even those morbidly obese people shouldn't be treated like lepers, there is a human being there who needs help. Yes, the mechanism whereby their condition develops is "voluntary", but really, is it? :huh:

I get your point about people with no particular reason judging others for obesity but let me tell you why people at the coal face of health care are concerned. I work in a smallish publicly funded hospital. Over the last couple of years we have spent thousands of dollars (AU) on new bariatric equipment to cope with our growing obesity problem - beds, wheelchairs, scales, toilets, blood pressure cuffs, operating tables, patient handling equipment - but we still dont have enough to cope. A new policy is being developed (apparantly) where if a ward has two or more patients of a high BMI they will have to close beds because each of those obese patients need more nursing staff to look after them and that means there arent enough nurses to go around. My colleague is now on the waiting list for back surgery because she had to lift up an obese ladies leg in order to insert a urinary catheter. The patient was to obese to get to the toilet, the reason for her immobility was obesity and no other condition.

Replicate this over every hospital in every health care system in every part of the western world and you have a phenomenal problem.

The problem is that people don't make any distinction between immobile morbidly obese persons (who clearly have other issues the lead to their situation), and your average person who is 50-100 pounds overweight. There's a big difference between these conditions, but people act like if you're 50 pounds overweight, you're as bad as the 500 pound person who can't even walk. And even those morbidly obese people shouldn't be treated like lepers, there is a human being there who needs help. Yes, the mechanism whereby their condition develops is "voluntary", but really, is it? :huh:

When you are looking at health care costs there is no difference between someone 100 pounds overweight or 300 pounds overweight. They are still to heavy for standard equipment. For example young women go into hospital to have a baby, none of them have any underlying health issues. 1 is healthy weight, 1 is 100 lbs overweight and the other is 300 pounds overweight. Care for the healthy weight woman will cost significantly less than for the other two as standard equipment can be used.

Also where did I indicate that the morbidly obese patients would be treated like lepers. In MY experience they are treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else, and there is often a lot of sympathy and understanding of the reasons they got in that position in the first place.

I was talking about people in general, not the health care professionals you work with. I don't know anything about that specific group of people, obviously. :huh:

Obese people cost 40% more a year in health care related expenses than a "normal" weight person. As a rule they do not pay more for health insurance than a "normal" size person, i.e., there is a cost that is spread to people who can push away from the table. Statistically obese people call in "sick" to work more often and file more workers comp claims (not to mention health care workers who are injured taking care of obese patients-happens all the time), so again, money.

It isn't about aesthetics, it's about money.

I get your point about people with no particular reason judging others for obesity but let me tell you why people at the coal face of health care are concerned. I work in a smallish publicly funded hospital. Over the last couple of years we have spent thousands of dollars (AU) on new bariatric equipment to cope with our growing obesity problem - beds, wheelchairs, scales, toilets, blood pressure cuffs, operating tables, patient handling equipment - but we still dont have enough to cope. A new policy is being developed (apparantly) where if a ward has two or more patients of a high BMI they will have to close beds because each of those obese patients need more nursing staff to look after them and that means there arent enough nurses to go around. My colleague is now on the waiting list for back surgery because she had to lift up an obese ladies leg in order to insert a urinary catheter. The patient was to obese to get to the toilet, the reason for her immobility was obesity and no other condition.

Replicate this over every hospital in every health care system in every part of the western world and you have a phenomenal problem.

The problem is that people don't make any distinction between immobile morbidly obese persons (who clearly have other issues the lead to their situation), and your average person who is 50-100 pounds overweight. There's a big difference between these conditions, but people act like if you're 50 pounds overweight, you're as bad as the 500 pound person who can't even walk. And even those morbidly obese people shouldn't be treated like lepers, there is a human being there who needs help. Yes, the mechanism whereby their condition develops is "voluntary", but really, is it? :huh:

When you are looking at health care costs there is no difference between someone 100 pounds overweight or 300 pounds overweight. They are still to heavy for standard equipment. For example young women go into hospital to have a baby, none of them have any underlying health issues. 1 is healthy weight, 1 is 100 lbs overweight and the other is 300 pounds overweight. Care for the healthy weight woman will cost significantly less than for the other two as standard equipment can be used.

Also where did I indicate that the morbidly obese patients would be treated like lepers. In MY experience they are treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else, and there is often a lot of sympathy and understanding of the reasons they got in that position in the first place.

I was talking about people in general, not the health care professionals you work with. I don't know anything about that specific group of people, obviously. :huh:

Maybe you were but the OP was complaining about reading about the obesity epidemic and why should anyone care what size anyone else is. I was explaining a reason as to why people should care about it. The first line I wrote said I got that the general population shouldnt be judgemental.

1. because its crippling the health services and costing billions more in tax for the consumer.

2. people are starving in the poorest parts of the world, whilst the developed world are obese.

3. Its going to shorten the lives of a lot of people, but I guess thats natural selection.

Don't agree. I rarely see an obese child anywhere tbh.

obesity in the 60's (before high fructose corn syrup) was at around 2-5% in developed countries.

now its 30% on average in the developed world.

what you see isn't really important. statistically obesity and of course including obesity in children has increased 6 fold.

theres a lot of money to be made through obesity. the food industry is only looking at the bottom line, and no one has any education.


"THATS WHY EVERYONE NEEDS TO TALK ABOUT IT" - Wise Words from Captain Obvious






Your like "why is everyone always talking bout prostate cancer, I don't care about prostate cancer, I care about the person"

if you care about the person.... you don't want them to die from prostate cancer, right?

AWARENESS!

Agreed, but you can't walk around with cancer or heart disease for long without the ill effects on your health becoming apparent. I'm not saying morbid obesity is harmless, but even people who are 50 pounds overweight can be perfectly healthy according to objective health measures, and giving someone the stinkeye when you can't tell whether they're on the way up or on the way down in weight is pretty lame.

As much as people claim it's about concern for health and tax dollars, I firmly believe that a lot of it derives from wanting somebody to feel superior to because of aesthetics and class snobbery. Perhaps not for those on a fitness website for the most part, but for a lot of people in the general population.