We had an interesting press release sent from Archon Solicitors. Here on Doctors4Justice we often moan about the impact of the General Medical Council. It makes us all eat too much and get fat. Essentially, the leader of the pack Dr Bright has invested in Onken Yogurt as have I. Indeed, HB and I often talk of our times wolfing down recommended levels of Yogurt, chocolate and ice-cream. While I am indeed a hopeless cook, HB is actually quite a brilliant one. If anyone has spoken to HB, there is one thing that is self evident. Her descriptions of food is so delicious that you have to put the phone down and create a plate of comfort food. Given these side effects that most doctors who have fought the system have, we are interested in Archon's view of discrimination on grounds of size or appearance.
Following the demonstration that took place in front of the Mayor of London’s office yesterday, calling for legislation outlawing discrimination in the workplace against those who are overweight. They say as follows
Following the demonstration that took place in front of the Mayor of London’s office yesterday, calling for legislation outlawing discrimination in the workplace against those who are overweight. They say as follows
Discrimination on grounds of size or appearance is not covered by existing legislation. However, in certain circumstances claims might be brought under the Sex Discrimination Act or the Age Regulations. This could occur, for example, where a woman has grounds for believing that she had been less favourably treated than an overweight man would have been or an overweight younger person considers that they have not been treated in the same way as an overweight older person would have been.
Doctors are often very quick to judge others who are overweight. There is a pre-concieved idea that all fat people are lazy and that the entire world should be filled with stick insects. The BBC reported as follows "Workers who did not deal directly with obese patients were also inclined to see them in an unfavourable light.
Doctors are often very quick to judge others who are overweight. There is a pre-concieved idea that all fat people are lazy and that the entire world should be filled with stick insects. The BBC reported as follows "Workers who did not deal directly with obese patients were also inclined to see them in an unfavourable light.
"On both implicit and explicit measures, health professionals associated the stereotypes lazy, stupid and worthless with obese people," said Dr Schwartz.
"The stigma of obesity is so strong that even those most knowledgeable about the condition infer that obese people have blameworthy behavioural characteristics that contribute to their problem, i.e. being lazy," she said.
"Furthermore, these biases extend to core characteristics of intelligence and personal worth."
Medscape asks - Are Overweight doctors a problem? The drive to create a medical nation of stick insects was driven home by Lord Darzi . Lord Darzi the cardboard cut out keeps attempting to order people around but it doesn't quite work. Most of us will probably sit in the mess and lament over a chocolate bar. Apparently, all overweight doctors are going to die sooner or later anyway. There appears to be so many rules and regulations governing the behaviour of doctors these days that I am surprised any of us have any freedom anymore. We can't have sex, we can't be fat, we can't saying anything controversial and we can't rebel. So what can we do? Well, we can't even quietly enjoy a chocolate bar without Lord Darzi whipping it off us. Anyway, some of us refuse to conform. Nevertheless, we all acknowledge that discrimination does exist within the National Health Service. Fat doctors are often discriminated against but that is simply because the Department of Health now forces us to all dress the same, have a BMI of a supermodel and walk like the stick insects at the General Medical Council. The important thing to understand is that being happy is important, being healthy is vital, being thin isn't vital.
As none of us can change the world we live in, we often roll in the lawyers to tell us about protection against discrimination.
As none of us can change the world we live in, we often roll in the lawyers to tell us about protection against discrimination.
Any legislation brought in to deal with discrimination on grounds of weight would need to be drafted extremely carefully. Unless reference was made to an objective test as to when an individual is to be considered as overweight (such as BMI), the question of whether an employee qualified for protection would be extremely subjective and difficult to define. This issuewould be even more problematic if the legislation was extended to cover so-called ‘look-ism’ (i.e., discrimination on grounds of appearance generally).
The Equality Bill 2009, which is due to come into law next year, will bring together all existing anti-discrimination legislation into one regime. Presumably if there had been any appetite (excuse the pun) to introduce legislation covering discrimination on grounds of weight, it would have been considered during the preparation of the Bill and incorporated at that stage.
There we have it, even Fat Doctors can now bring a claim under discrimination law.
There we have it, even Fat Doctors can now bring a claim under discrimination law.
1 comments:
As one who has studied diet and nutrition for some years, now born of neccessity,for my wife's NIDDM, I have deduced that most, if not all Obesity is founded in ignorance not in stupidity, personal neglect or indeed any volition on the part of the 'fatties'. People with a higher BMI than that which society views as healthy, generally have tried quite hard to lose weight to the point of starvation almost. But, they are consistently given the wrong advice founded in the 'bad science' perpetrated by the many Government and Quasi-Government organisations that trot out 'guff' about balanced diets, the food pyramid, the segmented plate, five-a-day, ad nauseam. None of it is founded in science; its hypothesis, anecdote and often completely WRONG.
Obese people in fact, if one studies the facts, have a better mortality overall than thin one's when subjected to many illnesses or physical stress. Fat diabetics with or without co-morbidities live longer and ride out ailments better that thin ones in the same cohort. Fat heart patients usually fare better than thin ones. That they got any of these ailments as a result of obesity is still in conjecture although it is better not to be too fat in the first place. In simple terms is better to be SLIGHTLY overweight than to be thin and to seek out that which society currently views as optimum ie; stick insect, is statistically bad for your health.
The issue of an over dependence, in diet on Carbohydrates in all forms, is the 'killer' here as we are consistently told lies and half truths about exercise and diet and the huge and wrong myth about dietary fat being responsible for Heart disease in all its forms. So long as these myths are trotted out we will have an increasing incidence of illnesses linked to obesity that will not be cured and fat people will be persecuted as being lazy, over indulgent and stupid.
Please indulge in chocolate (85% cocoa fat minimum), eat anything, not derived from grains or ending with 'ose' and most will lose fat and maintain a healthy weight. Yes, eating fat makes you thinner! Read all the research, it clearly says so(as long as it wasn't written by Big Pharma). Eat the greens but put butter on them; just forget potatoes (sadly) except as a treat. If you've suffered from 'yo-yo' diets it will be very difficult to lose weight as the preadipose cells will have become adipose and thence be so, for your life.
Discrimination is rife in society with the obese and women close to the top of the 'iceberg'. Obese women have as a consequence, great difficulty in being taken seriously, be they Doctors or not. Eating per se makes no one fat with the obese consuming fewer calories than most, but they are not believed, even by thier doctors, so deeply embedded is this myth about obesity. Much needs to change, but that change is difficult to engender when the Health Care system is so prejudiced and wrong! Surely it has to be seen that as diabetes, heart disease and obesity have risen, diets have increasingly been dependent on starches and sugars and fats reduced overall; the so called 'healthy diet'. The 'French Paradox' surely illustrates this as do all the others. Those societys that dine in a more 'primitive' style are more healthy than the UK or US. It really is what, not how much but it needs study of serious scientific design not anecdote and myth."For every complicated problem there is a solution that is simple, direct, understandable and WRONG" ( H.L Mencken ).
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