Position is politically motivated not patient centric
Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 18, 2009 with story from Sun Times News Group
Has the American Medical Association abandoned their Hippocratic Oath “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone”? The Sun Times reports
“The American Medical Association Tuesday said obesity shouldn’t be considered a disability, because it could limit doctors’ ability to talk to patients about their weight.
Defining obesity as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act would enable advocacy groups to challenge weight discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere.”
Not all doctors believe the AMA represents their point of view. The AMA doesn’t represent doctors.
This is a thorny issue, mainly due to blatant discrimination against all persons with disabilities in business, government and society and the prevalent view that obesity is self-induced. Removing obesity from conditions of disability will remove civil rights and should be opposed.
Discrimination against the disabled is prevalent enough that the US President, Congress and Senate felt it important to enact 1,100 pages of amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ten years after the ADA was passed, business governments and the courts had reduced the civil rights of the disabled.
If you don’t think this is a problem, consider how you will re-act if a restaurant refused you entry or a business refused to employee you based on something over which you have little control like the color of your eyes or where your nose ends. The disabled face barriers every day that able bodied people deny exist. We need laws to protect them.
Obesity is no more a self-induced disabling condition than quadriplegia. Most of the paraplegics and quadriplegics were the victim of sports or driving accidents directly caused by drinking, drugs and carelessness. Yet we are supposed to feel sorry for their now helpless condition.
Attaching moral, causal restrictions on support for the disabled is no more defensible than denial of cancer treatment for a smoker or heart attack care for someone who is overweight from a lack of exercise and excess eating. Some medical and disabling events happen by accident over which we have no control but in many cases we are victims of our own abuse.
The conundrum for doctors is that if obesity is a disability, they may not be able to counsel the patient on reducing weight. Doctors are already reluctant to tackle life-style problems and eating too much is both lifestyle and psychological addiction. However, the patient deserves the best physician advice.
Doctors group: Obesity not a disability
By MONIFA THOMAS, Sun-Times News Group
The American Medical Association Tuesday said obesity shouldn’t be considered a disability, because it could limit doctors’ ability to talk to patients about their weight.
Defining obesity as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act would enable advocacy groups to challenge weight discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere.
But the AMA is concerned that it could also open the door to discrimination lawsuits if overweight patients take offense to a doctor discussing their weight.
The doctors group, in Chicago this week for its annual meeting, passed a formal resolution on the subject Tuesday.
“We have to have the freedom to talk to our patients and help them lose weight,” said Dr. Domenic Federico, a member of the Michigan delegation that proposed the measure.
Also on Tuesday, the AMA’s house of delegates pledged to lobby Congress to ban the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies nationwide, on the basis that pharmacies are part of the health care system and should not sell tobacco.
The AMA meeting concludes today with a vote on the organization’s stance on a “public option” health insurance plan for the uninsured.
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