by LaoWai » Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:20 pm
Legitimate point, Marcuse, and I did think a little about whether that was a false equivalency. Crimson did a great job of providing the actual science behind my reasoning for not rejecting it as a false equivalency. I don't always think about doing those sorts of searches, since (having helped two family members study for degrees in nursing) I tend to just think, "Well, obviously X has deleterious effects on Y."
I probably should have used the much more obvious example of a dermatologist telling a patient to quit smoking (because smoking of course causes major dermatological issues--due to vaso-constriction if nothing else). Again, to me, it'd be a matter of what you should expect when consulting a health professional; they probably are going to mention any negative habits you have.The question really is about how often doctors use "Lose some weight" as a get out of work free card.
I checked out the site Damiana linked to, and I feel as though it's maybe a mix of legitimate problems, some miscommunication, and people just looking to be offended.If some of the stories are dead-on accurate, there are legitimate problems. If some of the stories are just the doctor saying one thing and patients focusing on the most negative or offensive thing, then that's a call for better communication (because I believe that what's perceived is what's communicated).
Posts like "Obesity causes cancer (Really? WTF, I mean, really?!?!) do seem like someone looking to be offended. Um, yeah, obesity is the primary risk factor for mixed Mullerian tumors if you have children and aren't taking estrogen therapy. If you're taking estrogen therapy, that would be required to be cited as a contributing factor.
To be fair, though, if you're seeing a doctor for an actual problem, maybe it's natural to react dramatically to every perceived slight. Seems to me, though, that the way to address that possibility is to focus on communication and maybe some better education of patients (those are maybe the same things).
It's always in the last place you look for it, unless you're the kind of person who keeps looking for it after you've found it.