Saturday, August 04, 2007

Fat people just plain Greedy

Obese people are often just plain greedy and should not always be treated with medication, the head of the British Medical Association has said. The British Medical Association chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, has argued that the "overmedicalisation" of weight gain meant that many individuals failed to take responsibility for their own health.

"I am not saying we should not look at how we can medically treat people who are very obese. But to me it is obviously an issue where prevention is better than cure," he told a newspaper.
According to the World Health Organisation, almost one in four Britons are obese. Doctors are being expected to medically intervene and that has limited benefits, the new BMA chief said. "We are tending to say, ‘This patient has a hyperappetite problem' rather than maybe they are eating too much. People like to put fancy labels that suggest things are a medical problem, but obesity is not just a problem for GPs, it is societal.

All of us, myself includ ed, need to take some responsibility for our own health," Dr Meldrum said.

"Obesity is in danger of becoming overmedicalised. Patients may think that surgery and medication are the answer but these are measures that offer limited benefit, even to the grossly obese.

They should be seen as a last resort and I believe prevention is much better than cure," he said.
Dr Meldrum also said the problem of "overmedicalising" affected other conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.

He said he did not dispute that ADHD or dyslexia existed and were debilitating, but added that they are being diagnosed inappropriately.

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