As Obesity Rises, Health Care Indignities Multiply

The New York Times ^ | November 29, 2003 | RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA and GRANT GLICKSON

[gcruse]

Shoulda known...

[rolling_stone]

Humm I don't know where you got the idea that I thought everyone grossly overweight was a lazy slob...I think it may be more of a mental condition than a physical one...when calorie input equals calories burned, I doubt a person will gain weight....maybe they just have a problem with simple math?

[CajunConservative]

I never considered it cosmetic. My eyesight was getting worse every year, and I wanted to slow down the progression.

A friend of mine is going to have gastric by-pass surgery and the plastic surgery afterwards to correct the hanging skin problem. I'm sure her insurance will pay for most of it, although she did say her family promised to help with the plastic surgery.

My brother wants to have the bypass done but he is having to fight his insurance tooth and nail and they still refuse to pay. He has never ever used his insurance either. The money he has paid in over the years is more than the surgery.

Most people have to fight their insurance companies before they will pay. The doctor my brother is seeing has a nurse whose only job is to fight insurance companies to pay.

[Capriole]

We do wish you well. If it helps, let me tell you that after the birth of my last child I lost 75 pounds on Atkins, and have kept it off by eating a well-balanced diet afterward, going back on Atkins temporarily (like after the Christmas holidays). My mother, who was also morbidly obese, lost 100 pounds on Atkins and kept it off. It's just important to understand that you can't do Atkins on your own--buy and study the book, refer to the website, get support, and exercise. You'll succeed. Blessings!

[raybbr]

Wow! You sure went a lot further than I did. Thanks for the added info. I was being facetious, too.

Although my wife as a nurse has come across this type of problem all too often.

[Bonaparte]

...and I'm sure she knows that the patient is either moved safely or remains right where he is.

[Nita Nupress]

My gosh, you're such a hunk. I just can't get over it. I had no idea. I don't know what you USED to look like (and don't want to know), but I'll bet you feel like an entirely different person after losing all that weight.

[Nita Nupress]

By the way, I'm not flirting -- I'm happily married. I just can't get over the fact that I was fighting tooth and nail a few years ago with such a studmuffin.

Besides, you probably still have a Yankee accent. No amount of weight loss in the world will fix THAT. ;-)

[clee1]

You, FRiend, are the exception that proves the rule. I am glad that you are a productive citizen, and I hope, for you families sake, that you lose some weight before it causes heart problems, a stroke, or severe complications from diabetes. Your family, I am sure, would like to have you around for as long as possible.

Is you weight due to a medical condition or to overeating? Does your family have a history of being larger than average?

I have much sympathy and compassion for people that have glandular diseases that cause obesity, but NONE for people that are eating themselves into an early grave and living (and eating) out of the taxpayers pockets.

I was in a Ryan's the other night, and saw a woman in her late 20's to early 30's waddling up to the all-you-can-eat bar. This lady must have weighed in excess of 450 pounds and had a gaggle of kids with her. Her butt (and I swear this is NO exaggeration) was a FULL 60" across. He would bang that huge rear end into people as she made her way across the crowded restuarant. As I ate, I watched this woman go back to the buffet line SEVEN TIMES - each time returning to her booth (she took up a whole bench) with her plate heaped a full foot high with food: every bit of it high calorie and fattening. I am sure that she will die at an early age, probably leaving her young children to be supported by the public.

Sorry, FRiend. NO compassion from me for the people that just won't push themselves away from the trough.

[clee1]

I think my experiment with Freerepublic is over. Liberals, I believe, make the mistake of having too much compassion where not warranted and I'm beginning to think though they are right that conservatives don't show enough when warranted and don't have a lot of understand for the COMPLICATED human condition. People don't get to 500 lbs, become drug addicts, or anorexics because they want to.

Buh-bye then cupcakes.

Conservatives believe that everything in your life is your own responsibility - both the choices you make and the consequences you pay for those choices.

Drug addiction and excessive overeating are choices, not diseases. AIDS is a disease, most often aquired by making bad choices.

I'll save my compassion for those that are trying to do the right thing, and those that had/have no choice in their misfortunes.

People with your mindset just enable people to continue on their own self-destructive path. That is your (and their) right as citizens in a Free Republic - but don't expect me to lose one second of sleep (or devote one second of my labor) over the consequences people bring upon themselves.

Tough Love is the only way to go when dealing with the consequences of personal choice.

[raybbr]

No, as a matter of fact. She is one of those nurses who will do whatever it takes to insure her patient's comfort and care. She comes home exhausted and fed up with the lack of support from her fellow nurses. (Sometimes they are too busy but I often hear her complain how they just sit around when they are inactive)

[ladyrustic]

"I think my experiment with Freerepublic is over."

Cupcakes, I understand your frustration. When you spend enough time reading posts on Freerepublic it is discouraging to see how hard-hearted a significant fraction of the posters are.

I never understood why George Bush felt the need to keep using the term "compassionate conservatism" all the time, but now I understand fully. Too many conservatives, surprisingly, are NOT compassionate, and have no understanding of the word at all.

Here, if you were to post an article about a family which was mugged and murdered while walking in a bad part of the city, you would have a third of the posters saying they have no pity for a family stupid enough to walk in the ghetto.

But please make an effort to stay and make your voice heard on the forum. Perhaps these opinions are coming from very young people who perhaps can learn from different opinions....

[SamAdams76]

Thanks for the comments. And yes, I do still have a heavy Yankee accent despite my annual trips to Alabama to keep it in check somewhat (my Dad was born and raised on a farm there and he has gone back to the farm to retire). But at least I don't sound like Ted Kennedy (even though I almost weighed as much as him).

Now that the weight is off and staying off (and in fact, still creeping lower each week even though I'm no longer actively trying to lose weight), I am convinced that it was the processed and sugary foods that was keeping me fat as well as the lack of exercise (which I had no desire to do when I was fat because I was so exhausted all the time).

One thing that I notice different is how others who don't know me interact with me. Maybe it's my imagination but they just seem more friendlier. Especially when I walk into a store or other place of business. It seems that people have more of a desire to wait on me. I get the impression that I came off as a "fat slob" before to strangers and that affected how they interacted with me. Again, maybe just my imagination. Or perhaps, the other people are merely responding to the improved way I carry myself lately - more self confidence and more of a positive attitude.

[SamAdams76]

When you spend enough time reading posts on Freerepublic it is discouraging to see how hard-hearted a significant fraction of the posters are.

I know where you are coming from but perhaps you are being too hard on these folks. Here at Free Republic, most posters operate under a degree of anonymity and thus say things that they would not normally say in polite company. That is, they are more free to speak their mind here and do not bother with the social niceties that they probably display in everyday life. In other words, I'm just saying that most of these posters are probably very nice people in person but on the board, they say things that normally wouldn't say.

Speaking as one who was once obese, it was not always easy reading "fat jokes" here and hearing some of the comments about fat people that are regularly made. But to be totally honest, hearing those comments helped motivate me to finally take the weight off. I'm not saying that I wouldn't have lost the weight if those comments and jokes were not made, but they did have an impact. One of the greatest moments I had (after taking the weight off) was meeting a former co-worker I hadn't seen in a while who was always giving me grief about my weight. I'm not talking about good-natured ribbing here but really mean-spirited comments about how undisciplined I was to get in the condition I was in. He was in the military like I and considered it disgraceful that a military man would let himself go as I did. Well I met him at a trade show (he is working for a competitor now) and he didn't even recognize me at first. It also turned out that I am even thinner than he now. He was rather surprised.

[NYCVirago]

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your posts, and how inspiring your story is. You really should consider writing a book about your weight-loss journey.

[douglas1]

PLEASE dont leave, I am new to this board and would like to think there are more like you than the tough love folks. my husband is a good example of someone always trying to lose weight, he has tried almost everything when he was in the USMC he had to fight every day with this weight problem, I have seen him eat nothing for days and just drink water, I remember we both could not believe he had gained a few pounds,he had black circles around his eyes, it is a fighting battle for some of us ,and to me there is nothing worse than a person that kicks a man when he is down, it speaks of their personality they are hateful people that believe you either look and act like them or you should be shot ,everyone sooner or later will be using a goverment plan of sorts its called medicare and social security, and GOD forbid they get into an accident and become wards of the state, the fire in their stomachs must be crippling .