Britain’s fattest teen wants you to pay for her treatment
Dear Georgia Davis,
I suppose congratulations are in order. At 15 years old and weighing 33 stone (210kg), you were dubbed Britain’s fattest teen. After winning a scholarship to an American weight loss camp last year, you have lost 14 stone (89kg), almost half your body weight. However, at age 16 the funding for your treatment is running out and you want the British taxpayer to pick up the tab, leaving me distinctly unamused.
Your overeating began at a very young age when your dad died. ”I was letting my emotions control me. I was always upset, so every time I got upset I would comfort eat.” As well as family pressures, you started to experience problems at school where you were bullied, and your comfort eating continued. “I would eat pretty much all day. I would eat everything, any kind of food.” Bread – up to three-quarters of a loaf a day – milk, cola, crisps, chocolate biscuits and cakes were particular favourites. “It made me feel better for a minute or two, but then I’d feel down again, so I’d eat again, and it would just continue on and on.” Your mother found your habits impossible to control. By the time you were 15, you had reached 33 stone (210kg), and you were a UK size 38. At 5′6, you were morbidly obese. But after nine months at the Wellspring Academy, an American fitness school which awarded you a scholarship, you weigh under 19 stone (121kg) and are a size 20. Your calorie consumption has gone down from around 13,000 a day to around 1,200 thanks to your new routine. ”It’s a structured day. It helps you control your life accordingly. Basically, you wake up around 6.30 and you go to morning activity for about an hour. Once you’ve done that, you go to breakfast and then you have school and basic classes. Then you have lunch in between classes, and then more activity and then dinner, free time and then more activity before you go to bed.” You credit cognitive behavioural therapy with helping you understand the reasons for overeating and learning how to control it. The school says you need to complete another year to lose weight and keep it off, but that it can only fund her until Christmas. Mike Davidson of the Wellspring Academy said: “Georgia is still about 8 stone from her healthy weight and has not dealt with all of her emotional needs or unlocked the habits around her eating yet that could cause her to relapse. She needs more time.” The NHS, after initially refusing to provide the estimated £23,000 needed, is now reviewing its decision. “I want to help as many people as I can, because during this time I’ve been doing this academy, I’ve realised that there are so many people out there with the same problem that I have. And I think that if I can do this with the NHS, if they fund me, then the NHS will help fund others… so that other people will be happy and normal too.”
Hmmm. There are three issues running around my head: personal responsibility, opportunity cost and value-for-money. On the subject of personal responsibility, you’re asking the taxpayer to stump up £23,000 because you eat too much. Wellspring Academy has already given you an effective rountine and helped you understand why you are overeating, so surely the argument in favour of you needing this money is weakened by the existence of the scholarship? And how long do you expect the taxpayer to fork out for your treatment? What if another £23,000 isn’t enough and you still want more treatment once the next course runs out? At what point is it your responsibility to tackle this issue (assuming that it isn’t your responsibility right now, which is debatable)? The opportunity cost of what you are asking is also staggering. How many heart bypass operations could £23,000 fund? How many Intensive Care beds could be supported with that amount of money? You are asking for a staggering sum, all because your willpower isn’t strong enough. Finally, value for money is a double-edged sword. There is a part of me that thinks handing over £23,000 because you cannot control your eating is outrageous, but then I wonder whether an investment now might save the taxpayer money in the long run relative to other treatments that your excessive weight might demand in future. Then again, even if it might prevent future expenditure on your obesity, there are still major objections purely on the grounds that eating is a choice whereas so many of the other illnesses that the NHS treats are not the responsibility of the patient in any way.
If this ‘test case’ does indeed find in your favour, the NHS is going to have a seriously big problem on its hands. For every obese person to be entitled to massive sums of taxpayers’ money just because they are unable to resist stuffing their faces would be deeply concerning on both financial and moral grounds. The message would be broadcast loud and clear: destroy your body through excessive eating as much as you want, but don’t worry – the taxpayer will pay for whatever you need to bring your weight down again. Personally, I’d much rather see the money put into bereavement counselling and other preventative measures than giving it to fatties who fail to show the willpower that most of us manage to draw on every day of our lives.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Witanagemot Blogs
How is it possible for her to afford the food she stuffs in her gaping maw, if she can’t afford the treatment?
LFAT writes: “The opportunity cost of what you are asking is also staggering. How many heart bypass operations could £23,000 fund? How many Intensive Care beds could be supported with that amount of money? You are asking for a staggering sum, all because your willpower isn’t strong enough.”
Actually, £23,000 might not fund a single heart-bypass operation if you look at the end-to-end cost of that treatment. Similarly, you might be able to fund a single intensive-care bed for a short period of time for £23,000; certainly not a year. It clearly isn’t just a case of ‘willpower’: it’s an illness like alcoholism or anorexia. Would you withhold treatment from an anorexic girl who was in danger of starving herself to death on the basis that she should just pull herself together and show some willpower? It’s the same with people who are in danger of eating themselves to death. Way too simplistic, LFAT.
To be honest, I think it would be good value for money if she ends up being a productive member of society, and not a permanent drain on the NHS and social services until a premature death.
To be honest, I think it would be good value for money if she ends up being a productive member of society, and not a permanent drain on the NHS and social services until a premature death.
That raises an interesting idea. What if the NHS agreed to fund the treatment BUT the fatty had to sign a contract whereby if they ever allowed themselves to go back above 14 or 15 stone, then she or her family become liable to pay the money back? That way you get the health outcome, potentially, and if they screw up and end up eating pies all day and smoking fags in their council house until they bloat out again, you could recoup the money (albeit slowly as it would have to come off said fatties benefits – most likely the IB successor as, since we all know, being fat is now classed as being disabled under the DDA).
Shaun, contracts for quitting smoking and losing weight could be very useful. Shame that they barely get any airtime.
BW, to describe obesity as an illness is highly contentious. It is abnormal behaviour, certainly, but an illness? Anorexia and bulimia can have a multitude of causes, manifest in different ways and are often linked to chemical imbalances in the brain. Willpower is rarely as significant an issue as it is with obesity, because avoiding food and stuffing your face require totally different thought processes.
Julia, the role of the mother in this probably deserves further explanation, especially when it comes to paying for the food!
I´m afraid it´s not on when people are being denied vital treatments for fatal diseases because the NHS doesn´t have enough funds.
I´ll save the taxpayer some money and drag her jogging twice a day with me. The heat, mediterranean food and hills where I live will shift that fat in a normal way!
If she can keep up with my busy life, she´ll lose weight. I weigh 7 and half stone and am a grandmother!
Obesity is NOT an illness. It may be that someone over-eats through depression or another psychological disease but mainly they´re just fat, lazy people who don´t have any self discipline.
You´d think she´d been mentally prepared by the fat camp to carry on by herself. Is she going to insist of being wet nursed her whole life by the taxpayer?
I find myself disagreeing with a lot of the new definitions of ‘illness’. Alcoholism is an illness now? Guess that makes smoking an illness too.
What underpins a lot of these ‘illnesses’ is a society that says ‘dont worry, it’s not your fault’.
What happens to a society when the individuals in that society refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions and the state tells them they’re right not to?
And if you don’t like this comment, remember, it’s not my fault.
If I were a rich man I’d fund her myself, Poor kid it must live a very miserable existence and it’s a bit much to apply ‘pull yourself together’ therapy to somebody in her position. And, my head says that the taxpayer should not be asked to cough up.
On the other hand I should imagine that there is no realistic expectation that she will be anything other than a burden to the taxpayer were she to revert back to her old ways. I’d guess about £10k pa in benefits, health care etc.
A tricky one.
Sue, the limited resources of the NHS is crucial here. This is not just about whether the taxpayer should fund treatment, it’s about whether the taxpayer should fund it at the expense of other treatments.
FLS, personal responsibility has indeed become increasingly sidelined in recent years, much to my annoyance.
WFHA, if she is left to fend for herself and chooses not to address her own problems, she will have to face the consequences. The fact that obesity surgery is available on the NHS at the taxpayers’ expense is another reason why I get so angry about these situations, because until you make it clear that people must accept the consequences (at least to some degree) of how they treat their bodies then they have no reason to change their behaviour.
I think the poor girl needs a hobby. How on earth does she find the time to eat 13,000 calories?! Surely at school or working there just aren’t enough hours in the day to pigsy down that much food. Even truck drivers would struggle to get to that amount! I think she might have insomnia too – that would at least allow for a bit of snacking in the night.
The food fat tax might pay for some of the treatment. But quite frankly she doesn’t deserve it. Go for a walk and stop shoving food in your face! The message really couldn’t be any simpler. It is sad that some people try so hard to lose weight by themselves and for some people it is harder than others but consuming 13,000 calories is definetly not caring about yourself so why on earth should the tax-payer pay becuase you couldn’t be bothered thinking about the consequences.
And the American Fat Camp saying that she is overeating because her Dad died! I think not my burger eating cousins. They always read too much nonsense into things. A bit more stiff upper lip wouldn’t go a miss. It is both the fault of the mother and the fatty child. Stop buying so much food and stop eating so much food respectively!
Time for an NHS voucher system. I’d have made a fortune already!
“I think not my burger eating cousins.”
Put-down of the day so far, by a mile!
Back, back a very long time ago, when I was at a girls Grammar School in the 60’s, it was the PE teachers that made us exercise regularly.
In those days, we had 3 x 2hr sessions of PE ranging from dance drama, judo, swimming, fencing, netball, gymnastics and tennis. We had many after school activities too like roller skating and inter-school matches.
We had one fat girl in my whole year if I remember rightly and she was encouraged by the PE staff to lose weight during those lessons.
Surely, the best preventative cure for obesity is at school catching them when they are young?
Bringing back a good healthy competitive PE regime in all schools would begin to solve this problem and at no cost to the NHS.
Bringing back a good healthy competitive PE regime in all schools would begin to solve this problem and at no cost to the NHS.
Which leads me to one of my absolute pet hates: the medicalisation of behavioural problems. Kids being a bit naughty and not paying attention in class? Must be ADHD – apply the Ritalin chemical kosh. Eating too much and doing too little, getting very fat? Well, obesity is a serious medical condition – indeed a disability – and thus is not your fault. This approach, while being initially worthy of scientific investigation, quickly gets hijacked by those who believe that nobody is really responsible for anything they do, since they are products of society.
Personally, I’ve been on quite the opposite journey. I used to carry a couple of spare stone but when I got MS, I got a dog to force me to stay active and walking as long as possible. Not because walking will in any respect preserve the ability to walk, but because if I become fat and immobile then I am more likely to experience what I style as ‘mechanical’ problems. My knees will fail, my energy levels and anaerobic systems will weaken and overall that will make my overall condition worse. In short, I got an illness that has forced me to take responsibility for my own physical condition (while ironically setting me on an uncontrollable degenerative path!) and I’ve lost lots of weight, feel fitter and get less colds and so on (which DOES impact upon my disease progression). And that’s despite drinking ‘too much’ and using cannabis (medically – long story but it works in ways conventional drugs simply don’t).
‘the medicalisation of behavioural problems’
Shaun – spot on. Strikes me that this type of thinking also extends into the criminal justice system where criminals are effectively just victims of their illness as well.
It’s all irrelevant. One way or another the taxpayer will fund her ‘treatmen’ in any case. Fuss about nothing.
“It’s all irrelevant. One way or another the taxpayer will fund her ‘treatmen’ in any case. “
The taxpayer shouldn’t.
Especially when it takes vital funding away from actual, physical illnesses. That, after all, is the line taken by those surgeons who would refuse liver transplants to alcoholics, or lung transplants for smokers, isn’t it?
So, why should the lazy and greedy be exempt?
I have to say I agree with LFAT, on the whole.
She has done extremely well to get to where she is. She now knows exactly what she has to do in order to get down to her ’safe-weight’. So, surely the ball’s in her court to take responsibility?
Obviously, we musn’t forget that the emotional turmoil she suffered as a child is a direct link to her obesity. She needed the American camp to break her out of her cycle of comfort-eating and depression and into one of healthy eating and an exercise routine.
But, now’s the time for her to stand alone and do it herself. She has to eat healthily and exercise independently, otherwise she’ll become too reliant on support from others.
That’s not to say she shouldn’t be monitored by a GP once a week, or fortnight – whatever. But she doesn’t need to spend another few months in an American camp at the expense of the taxpayer.
Let’s not be too hearsh on her for wanting the support though. She is only young, after all, and probably scared about taking the next step.
Its an interesting argument. And what it highlights is the problem in working out what the health service is for.
Personally I have no problem with the idea that there should a level of health care available to all – free at the point of delivery. What should be available under that contract is the challenge, and I think the area for proper political debate. But I cannot see any of the current parties wanting to explore this debate, particularly whilst the NHS is such a charged political device.
However I do think it is wrong to exploit the misery of individuals in that debate. When you refer to individuals you are doing so without full knowledge of the individual’s medical background and diagnosis – something that in anycase is none of your business.
“You´d think she´d been mentally prepared by the fat camp to carry on by herself.”
What, and lose the fat fee….?
@JuliaM –
Because she will be considered disabled, and immobile she will receive £500/ 4 weekly in Disability Living Allowance, more than £100/ week Income Support + credits , making an annual income of £6500 + £5200 = £11,700 annually, or £225/week. (NB – benefits rounded, food prices based @ Co-op: were she to use ASDA/TESCO, she could cram more into her hollow legs).
With a sponge cake costing £1, 2 litres Coca-Cola for £1.50, and Lard @ 0.50 per 500g, bread (thick sliced white) @ 0.75p, eggs @ £2/ dozen , butter £1 per 250g, she can eat the following:
100 bottles Coca-Cola (sugary)
50 sponge cakes
5 kg Lard
2.5 kg Butter
12 loaves white thick sliced bread
6 dozen eggs
and still get 6 x 13″ pizza with topping of her choice, by using the special internet deal available, and have cash left.
That’s how.
On the subject of overeating, there are some extremely bigoted or uninformed people posting on this blog. Obesity has been over-simplified as a question of lifestyle, but there are several types of overeating that are the result of glandular imbalance and phsycological disorder. Obesity is a defence mechanism for people who have been sexually abused in childhood, suffered neglect as children, or who have strong feelings of insecurity or lack of self-worth, have an unreasonable fear of pregnancy or are chronically depressed. Obesity is often a symptom of a deeper-lying disorder. Obesity is also a self-harm activity and there have to be some pretty strong drivers to override the basic Darwinian need to survive. Not one of you BMI control freaks has taken the view, “Fat Camps work. Why don’t we do it here?” as a means of dealing with the increasing public health problem of childhood obesity.
At the risk of introducing facts that may conflict with your prejudices, try reading “Eating Disorders and Obesity”, Fairburn and Brownell, or if thats too technical, Breaking Free from Emotional Eating, by Geneen Roth, both available from Amazon. And never raid a fridge at 3 am again.
GOM, while some of the comments might seem harsh they seem to reflect the commentor’s belief in personal responsibility in many cases. Food, drink and indeed lots of other substances can induce chemical changes in the brain – that’s how humans and other animals get conditioned to behave in certain ways. However, many people suffer childhood trauma and goodness knows what other problems without becoming obese – so suggesting that this presents something of an excuse is extremely contentious. Risk factors they may be, but nothing more. It is the individual who holds the power.
William, that’s ridiculous – she’s clearly sufficiently health-conscious to have wholemeal bread.
Alastair, get off your high horse. I am not exploiting her misery and of course I don’t know her personally, but that’s completely irrelevant. I am using her story to debate the principles behind welfare, healthcare and personal responsibility. If you object to me doing this, please feel free to read other blogs instead – you know, personal responsibility and all that.
Shane, she is indeed young, which made me wonder what role her parents had in letting this situation reach the extremes that it did. It sounds like she has had a horrible journey, but at what point will she decide that she is the only one who can affect her destiny in this instance?
“That’s how. “
Good grief! The ‘Buy one, get one free’ options have a lot to answer for…
“Obesity has been over-simplfied as a question of lifestyle, but there are several types of overeating that are the result of glandular imbalance and phsycological disorder. “
Is there any indication that this is the case for this particular individual? Other than the ‘I was sad when my dad died’ sob story?
“And never raid a fridge at 3 am again.”
I never have. I have self-control! My parents instilled it, I didn’t need to learn from strangers.
Like LfaT I, too, wonder what role her upbringing played in enabling this young woman to do what she does….
LFAT. How many people do you know who are truly self-starters? That quality is possessed by about 1% of the population. Thats why Captains of Industry command such high rewards. Everybody else needs support to a greater or lesser extent.
Julia M. What you so dismissively call “buy one get one free” is actually the result of 5 years hard guided study. If you’ve decided you can’t learn any more at your time of life, that’s a shame. As to indications, how about,
“Georgia is still about 8 stone from her healthy weight and has not dealt with all of her emotional needs or unlocked the habits around her eating yet that could cause her to relapse. She needs more time.” Before you scoff, someone who had worked with Georgia for months made this statement. If you knew anything about the subject you would know that the statement is perfectly acceptable in the circumstances. The crying shame is that obese people are being misdiagnosed and receiving inadequate treatment when a Fat Camp would be a cheaper and more effective way of treating the condition.
“Julia M. What you so dismissively call “buy one get one free” is actually the result of 5 years hard guided study.”
?
“As to indications, how about,
“Georgia is still about 8 stone from her healthy weight and has not dealt with all of her emotional needs or unlocked the habits around her eating yet that could cause her to relapse. She needs more time.” “
Yes, that’s what the Academy says. Of course, they want the money, don’t they? They would say this, wouldn’t they?
“The crying shame is that obese people are being misdiagnosed and receiving inadequate treatment when a Fat Camp would be a cheaper and more effective way of treating the condition. “
Are we supposed to fund crutches for all the unhappy people in the world? At the expense of treating real ailments?
Should a pensioner have to go blind in one eye through macular degeneration before NICE will approve the drugs, while they pay for this girl and those like her to be coddled and assisted and never have to take any responsibility?
This is NOT why I pay NI.
Julia M. As you completely fail to engage with my arguments, I can only assume that you have Bourbon blood in your veins. I know what I am talking about. You clearly don’t have a clue.
OK, but I’m confused. If “fat camp” works with most people, then they can’t have glandular problems.
I can fully appreciate that depression and other psychological problems can lead to “comfort eating”, but then the original illness is what’s causing the obesity and that should be treated in addition to the fat camp regimes.
That is why I said earlier that these camps should therefore have as part of their regimes a part that prepares them to take forward what they have learned while they were there.
I don’t believe everyone that is obese is clinically ill, just as I agree with Shaun about childrens behaviour being given labels to justify bad behaviour. Why has it become such a problem in the last 15 – 20 years? Simple, we don’t discipline our children as we used to. With that early discipline and guidance, children grow into psychologically healthy adults.
Today in the Mail Don’t give my son an Asbo, he’s just got a bit of ODD (that’s Oppositional Defiant Disorder) Please, there’s nothing a good bottom smack wouldn’t cure in most cases!
It’s all this mollycoddling that annoys the hell out of me!
Do you deny that the Academy has a vested financial interest in this girl’s treatment continuing with them then?
Do you deny that the NHS has limited financial scope as it is, without acting as a crutch for someone to evade all responsibility and be taken care of all her life?
Does personal responsibility (rather than parrotting the ‘I’m ill, me, I can’t help myself’ mantra) always get ignored?
I have come late to this discussion so please forgive me if the points have already been raised.
Nearly all fat people have no underlying “illness” other than they like eating more than is healthy and are too lazy to burn the calories off. It must be very hard once someone has got to however many stone to start losing weight but it really is just a case of eating fewer calories than are expended. Far too much “medicalisation” goes on these days. Go on a diet and get over it.
That said there is scope for “help” for people. GPs can provide motivation and advice. That is one of their roles. This young woman already has a GP, she does not need us to pay even more for additional advice, especially as she has already had the basic “science” from the academy.
People need to get a grip and take responsibility for themselves. If we become “victims” of our own free choice then we should not expect others to dig us out of our holes. Certainly not by forcing everyone else to contribute to our treatment. There is a huge difference between the state providing care for those who have caught diseases or have developed chronic illnesses through no fault of their own and people who just cannot be bothered to look after themselves.
@grumpy old man – Agreed.
As someone who has never had an eating disorder but know many how have – obesity is much misunderstood.
Yes there are those who lack will etc, however those who become morbidly obese can suffer from a range of psychological issues or even have a little known condition which leaves the person never feeling full – this is a simple physiological problem but terrible for those with the problem.
There is perhaps a very counter-intuitive website that provides a huge amount of support to those struggling with their weight/yo-yo diet issues/compulsive anorexic exercisers – http://forum.bodybuilding.com/
Julia M. Of course the Academy has a financial interest, just like a private hospital. I would suggest that under the US health care system, unless the treatment works, the private health insurance firms would not pay up. Thus it is not ultimately in the best interests of the Academy to overstate treatment required and if a qualified health professional gives, in consultation with other health professionals, a professional opinion, we concerned and articulate individuals would do well to heed it.
Plato. Thanks, I was beset by the ungodly till you arrived just in time:)
On the subject of NHS finance, the list of diseases which are connected with obesity are multifarious and appalling. The best known are Type 2 diabetes, various cancers, chiefly of the bowel, and hypertension. An obese patient will rapidly become too ill to work and is then a burden on the State for the rest of their (shortened) lives. “It’s their own fault” does nothing to stem the terrible human waste. In fact this attitude at a personal level worsens the patient’s condition. Possibly Shaun would back me up on this point.
The Fat Camp is one of the few treatments for obesity that stands a chance of working as it attempts to treat both the symptom – overeating -and the various phsycological causes. Compared with the cost of suppporting the patient through a constant deterioration over the patient’s life-span, the State makes on the deal.
The art of combating over-eating is so improving the patients condition that they are in a state to take responsibility for themselves. That’s the clever bit because it cannot be enforced externally but must grow from within the patient.
“I would suggest that under the US health care system, unless the treatment works, the private health insurance firms would not pay up. Thus it is not ultimately in the best interests of the Academy to overstate treatment required and if a qualified health professional gives, in consultation with other health professionals, a professional opinion, we concerned and articulate individuals would do well to heed it.”
Hmm, you have a sunny view of US medical practice!
And you didn’t answer my other two points…
“The art of combating over-eating is so improving the patients condition that they are in a state to take responsibility for themselves.”
By sticking their hand out to the NHS for continuing funding?
And we aren’t ‘ungodly’ for raising these points. I have every sympathy with, for example, parents with children suffering Prader-Willi syndrome. They go through hell, with locks on the cupboards and fridges, and having to harden their hearts to the child’s entreaties. Because they are sick, and they really cannot help it..
By contrast, this mother doesn’t seem to have raised a finger, letting this child eat as much as she wants – in fact, she had to have bought most of this food for her.
That rings alarm bells with me about the type of family we are dealing with here. Big, loud alarm bells.
“It’s their own fault” does nothing to stem the terrible human waste. In fact this attitude at a personal level worsens the patient’s condition. Possibly Shaun would back me up on this point.
Sorry, GOM, I can’t.
Because, basically, I do still believe in free will; this is not uncontentious among neurologists since Dr Susan Greenfield explained why she does not believe in freewill but rather feels that what we are referring to is an illusion arising from the interaction of complex, but ultimately deterministic neural systems. In the end, people have choices. Of course their environment will influence those choices just as they always have as will other social-psychological pressures.
However what interests me is why those people are making choices to be fatter now in numbers utterly unimaginable in the 1940s or 1950s? Is it simply the post 70s abundance of cheap, fatty foods? Has a disease afflicted the populace (“Affluenza” shout the wags at the back!) making it easier to put on weight? There is some evidence that this may have happened and also it is becoming understood that the immune system has a role to play in weight gain/loss. Or is it just that people can be so comfortable now, or so afraid, that they don’t go outside and do things and require an infantile dummy substitute and so suckle down food all day long? And if it is the latter, then should the NHS be paying for CBT (beloved by the government but with not unambiguous statistical success) to address what is only a symptom of a wider social malaise?
“s it simply the post 70s abundance of cheap, fatty foods?”
That’s got to be a big part of it. Look at the price list supplied upthread by William Cobbett.
And if you are out of work and not active, then consuming these calories will have an obvious effect. And the bigger you get, the harder it is to exercise, so the cycle goes…
I think also there’s the rise – as Sue and LfaT among others have said – of the ‘it’s not my fault, I’m (insert medico-jargon here)’ culture.
And the lack of shame.
I’m just curious as to how they got her to the States – did they send her on a cargo plane or did they have to have her shipped as freight?
Perhaps Seaworld helped?
No offence like, but do you read women’s magazines? My mum picks loads of them up at work & I flick through them. This is the latest of several occasions on which you’ve repeated a story out of one of them.
Humblest apologies if you’ve got some other source, but it is a bit uncanny!
They are quite interesting. I read them on the toilet whenever I go to her house. I probably shouldn’t though
JuliaM – I heard that the sea level dropped by two feet when she disembarked.
Julia M.
“Hmm, you have a sunny view of US medical practice!” My wife is a senior manager in a multi-national Pharma company. The workings of US medical insurance are of great interest to her, and I hear all about it last (almost) thing Friday night.
” And you did’nt answer my other two points…”
“Do you deny that the NHS has limited financial scope as it is, without acting as a crutch for someone to evade all responsibility and be taken care of all her life?”
“The Fat Camp is one of the few treatments for obesity that stands a chance of working as it attempts to treat both the symptom – overeating -and the various psychological causes. Compared with the cost of supporting the patient through a constant deterioration over the patient’s life-span, the State makes on the deal.”
“Does personal responsibility (rather than parrotting the ‘I’m ill, me, I can’t help myself’ mantra) always get ignored?
“The art of combating over-eating is so improving the patients condition that they are in a state to take responsibility for themselves. That’s the clever bit because it cannot be enforced externally but must grow from within the patient”
The Ungodly reference was a joke [:)] Maybe “beset by the Hosts of Myrmidon” would have conveyed my meaning better.Sorry for being obscure.
On the subject of a possible epidemic of obesity. The German population suffered extreme deprivation of food 1933 – 1950. After the economic miracle 1950-65 (ish) the German population suffered from obesity brought on by a sudden glut of rich food. I remember Panorama, then a serious, responsible and informative weekly journal doing several programs on the phenomena. I will never forget the footage of overly large people “taking the waters” at Bad Schewshine or wherever.
Shaun. Thanks for your input.
@asquith -
Asquith. I’m worried about you. Maybe you should contact a dating agency?
Nay worries!
“I read them on the toilet whenever I go to her house. I probably shouldn’t though “
Shouldn’t read them? Or shouldn’t use her toilet?
“The German population suffered extreme deprivation of food 1933 – 1950. After the economic miracle 1950-65 (ish) the German population suffered from obesity brought on by a sudden glut of rich food.”
Perhaps as a way of capturing the prosperity (or illusion of it) that they felt they had lost?
Perhaps as a way of capturing the prosperity (or illusion of it) that they felt they had lost?
Which begs the question: if this is the case then what malaise is afflicting our culture now? Too much affluence? Too comfortable welfare or too little (the stats above on food costs are clear)? Or, as I may suggest, a society that has become so infantilised, so safety conscious, so wrapped in cotton wool that it has actively and conspicuously removed the *need* for personal responsibility, preferring irresponsible clients of the state to people who make their own decisions….
Shaun. All of these and more. The breakdown of the Two-parent family, the very idea that single parent families are “normal”, the notion that homosexual partnerships, however worthy in themselves, can provide a stable development platform for children, the feminist degradation of the importance of male roles in a stable society, “rights” being more important than responsibilities, ad infinitum. The whole left-wing panoply of PC ideas imposed on our Nation since the 70’s has left much of our society in tatters. It’s no good raging about it. Thats what we have to deal with and it’s up to the “self starters” to self start. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. “
Great choice for the topic at hand…
Hi LFAT
don’t know about horses – what you have done is to stimulate a “debate” about how irresponsible this young lady is, from a bunch of people who know nothing about her or her medical background. She has no right of reply to these anonymous tittle tattles.
“She has no right of reply to these anonymous tittle tattles. “
She has the same right anyone else has. This is an open blog and accepts all comments, doesn’t it?
Alastair,
We are entitled to speak about her because she has chosen to put herself in the public eye, using the media to campaign for the NHS to use our tax money to pay for her private treatment in the US. As with MP’s expenses – if you take our money, you become open to critique.
Julia, it is impossible to challenge people who hide behind annonymity, but otherwise I take your point.
Shaun, is it her exploiting the media, or the media exploiting her? There is certainly a story there that might help to shift newsprint, but the problem with such “stories” is that they are always partial, and never particularly helpful in debating policy – as the amount of digression on here demonstrates. You can’t help but get emotionally involved!
@JuliaM – The smokers and drinkers will still receive treatment. The taxpayer will still continue to pay for it. New liver or not the alcoholic will still be a drain on resources. In any case, your argument about drinkers and smokers is meaningless. This woman has actually reduced her food intake and lost weight. Frankly, I don’t really give a toss. Is my tax bill likely to fall because of any of these decisions? NO!
“This woman has actually reduced her food intake and lost weight.”
And now she wants to pick our pockets in order to reduce it some more. Shouldn’t she have learned how to stand on her own two feet by now?
“Frankly, I don’t really give a toss. Is my tax bill likely to fall because of any of these decisions? NO! “
But someone else may not get the real treatment they need because of this woman’s drain on the limited resources of the NHS. That someone might be you…
Two wraps of Duck Tape around her gob is a proven, low-cost cure for over-eating.
.
@JuliaM – You are missing the point, which is strange as it’s the very point YOU made! Surgeons refusing to give liver transplants to alcoholics. They DO give them to people who have stopped drinking. This women is in a similar category. She has stopped overeating and has lost weight. What part of that do you not understand? Whatever happens, if she continues to remain obese she WILL be a drain on health services whether you or I like it or not. The number of heart transplantds or ingrowing toenail operations that could be carried out with this money is meaningless unless you work out how many such operations could be carried out with the money this girl will cost the NHS over the rest of her lifetime if nothing is done now. Sheesh!!
Whatever happens to this girl will have zero impact on my own health care. I’ll just pay for it myself!
“This women is in a similar category. She has stopped overeating and has lost weight. What part of that do you not understand? “
The part where she’s whining that if the NHS don’t pay her to continue with her fat camp treatment, she’ll go back to over eating, maybe…?
“Whatever happens to this girl will have zero impact on my own health care. I’ll just pay for it myself! “
Good for you. Perhaps Gargantuan Georgia should be told to do the same?
@JuliaM – Time to end this correspondence. I feel a bit of a wind blowing up outside and I think my time would be better spent trying to urinate into it. Bye!!
Careful! You don’t want to encounter any splashback…
@JuliaM – Oh dear, oh, dear. I think you’ve missed the point…yet again! I give up!
Thought you gave up before?
Are you a bit of a beginner at the giving up lark then?
What is the point in sending her to what is effectively a ‘rehab’ for fatties?
We’ve seen all over the press where druggies and alcoholics go to their rehabs and come out saying it was fantastic. The next thing you know they are back on the drugs and booze again.
What is to say she won’t turn to food again once she hits a difficult period in her life and suddenly falls off the wagon? She will hit a period like that eventually and I certainly wouldn’t want the taxpayer to pay for another £23k jolly to the states.
The only solution is something a little more permanent in the shape of a full gastric bypass. This is the only way to guarentee she doesn’t revert back to food the moment it suits her. By physically restricting her intake she can no longer use food as a crutch to lean on and will save money in the long run. The operation also doesn’t cost much more than the trip to the states and I imagine would have a much higher success rate.