It’s hard to believe… no… unfortunately it’s not that hard to believe that I need to address this topic again. The stigma of obesity. And I wish I could say that I was at least surprised as to where it was coming from this time… but I really can’t.
The August 2011 issue of Outpatient Surgery Magazine featured an article by a Doctor John D Kelly IV, MD XXL Patients – Signs that you should worry about performing surgery on the supersized. This is in a regular column for the magazine called Cutting Remarks.
I suppose this article is supposed to be along the lines of the “You may be a redneck…” humor, but instead of being in a somewhat self-deprecatory these “jokes” were purposely aimed at other people… the doctor’s patients no less. It seems this doctor is a regular contributor to the magazine, and to this particular column. I’m not sure if it’s in jest or not, but there is a blurb attached to the print article that suggests he moonlights as a stand-up comedian. If that’s true, well… read the title I gave this posting. Or maybe he should… cause I know I wouldn’t want him for my doctor.
I hesitate to do this, because I don’t really wish to reward this magazine with more traffic to their site, but they have a specific linking policy in place, so I will honor it… below is the opening paragraph to this article:
Our patients are getting bigger and bigger. Not only is the obesity epidemic to blame, but the abundance of food, protein shakes and the steroid craze are generating larger and larger patients. I worry when I do surgery on these behemoths because complications increase and exposures are truly more difficult.
The problem I’m having here though, is that they require you register for their site in order to view the rest of the article. If you wish to view the article I suggest maybe using a temporary email service such as 10MinuteEmail – it gives you an email address that’s valid for about 10 minutes, just long enough for you to register, receive the confirmation email and click the link so you can log in to the site.
In following with “fair use”, I will share a couple of the comments he makes in his attempts at humor here…
- There is a comma in your patient’s body weight.
- Your patient occupies beds 5 and 6 in the holding area.
- Your patient wears his wristwatch on his finger.
- Your patient requires enough anesthesia to knock out a rhinoceros.
- Your patient’s tailor is Omar the Tent Maker.
Yea… there’s about 20 other lovely gems besides these. And then he closes the article with this lovely thought: “… if your patient’s jacket size is higher than your IQ, you may be in for a long day.”
It’s… I don’t know. Like I said… I wish I was surprised by this, I really do. And while sometimes I feel “we” can be a bit over-sensitive to things like this, I feel this situation is rather different because it comes from a health care professional. Someone who has taken an oath to do no harm. Ironically enough I received an email today from the Obesity Action Coallition and their new “Bias Busters” to combat weight bias and stigma. The following is from their press release:
The goal of “Bias Busters” is to engage the public in the conversation of weight bias and stigma, and raise awareness of the prevalence of the issue in today’s society. “Bias Busters” will highlight examples of weight bias that emerge in the news and media, and provide individuals with an opportunity to respond and let their voices be heard. “Bias Busters” also provides information about the nature and extent of weight bias and invites the public to share their own examples of bias with the OAC through biasbusters@obesityaction.org.
You can get more information about Bias Busters on the OAC website.
If you did register to view the entire article on the Outpatient Surgery Magazine website, you can leave a comment on the article itself… and I was encouraged to see that the 10 or so comments left as of today were all pretty much echoed the sentiments of this comment by a Barbi Bodine:
This article is completely offensive. There is absolutely nothing funny about a physician being published making rude, biased and derogratory comments in a professional magazine. Not only am I upset with the physician for making healthcare a “joke”, but I am furious with the publishers and editors for allowing such ilk to be printed in a magazine targeted for healthcare professionals.
If you do not wish to register for the site, but wish to view the entire article, Andrea over at WLS Vitagarten has a PDF copy of the magazine article on her site. And if you wish to contact the author and or publisher directly to make your opinion heard, here is their contact information.
Author
John D. Kelly, IV, MD
University of Pennsylvania Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery
34th and Spruce St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 615-4400
john.kelly@uphs.upenn.edu
Publisher
Dan O’Connor
Editor-in-Chief
Outpatient Surgery Magazine
255 Great Valley Parkway, Suite 100
Malvern, PA 19355
Phone: (610) 240-4918 x16
doconnor@outpatientsurgery.net
Also… Miss Diva Taunia posted a video rebuttal to this article that basically gave me the idea for the title of this article…
image credit: lisapizza
Appalling. Just sent an email to both.
shame.
Dr. Kelly emailed me an apology in response to my email to him.
I’d be interested in seeing what he had to say… I haven’t emailed him myself yet. Maybe I will right now and give him a chance to respond to the flack he’s getting.
Mine was essentially the same as Laura’s reply.
So he’s saying patients that are fat due to overeating were the targets? Not patients that are large due to muscle & frame??
A TOTALLY offensive article. Our voices must be hard! I just sent a note to Dr. Kelly and the editor.
Here is the reply I just got from Dr. Kelly. Read it carefully — it is equally offensive. BTW: My friend sent a note to the publication and got the EXACT same aplogy!
Laura thank u. I did write an apology. I never intended to hurt anyone and used ‘one liners’ I accrued over the years in comedy. I never meant to take pot shots at obese and never think to call them gluttons. Some patients are large due to muscle and frame I am deeply sorry and I used poor judgment. I do respect the dignity of everyone Sincerely john kelly
I am working my way up the chain of command at UPenn. I do know he is now sending a form apology letter since the same one is showing up on the facebook boards. I would highly advise people to contact UPenn to let them know you are surprised they would employ a “professional” with so much disregard for ethics and humanity.
Well, I’m sure after the publicity the OAC has given this… he is being flooded. I have to give him credit that he is even responding individually. Yes, I received a response, and while it was brief it was different than the one Laura copied here. I think … he is in a “reactionary” mode right now… “damage control” maybe… I dunno. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for a while longer and see how this continues to play out.
I know Dr. Kelly on a professional level and I can assure you that he didn’t mean anything in that article in a malacious way. He likes to joke around but is very compassionate and would never say or do anything to hurt someone’s feelings. I did read the article and personally I didn’t find anything offensive about it (and no, it’s not because I know him).
Nikki, we all have different levels of sensitivity when it comes to being offended. And I believe I’ve said nobody has the right to NOT be offended. BUT, it is irresponsible for a doctor to make jokes about things surrounding a patient’s health. Obesity bias is very real, and way too many people end up not seeking proper medical care because of the insensitivy of way too many in the medical profession. These are the people we are supposed to be able to trust, literally, with our lives. Would it be acceptable for a doctor to make such jokes about cancer patients? How about jokes about mental retardation? Or how about a joke about giving epileptic patients a cocktail to hold for them cause they want it “shaken, not stirred”?
Obese folks know they’re obese. There maybe be some levels of denial, but deep down we know there are problems, and if the people that are supposed to be there to help us deal with these are insensitive to these issues… well, we’ll never fix the problem.
Yes, there are cases where jokes can be made… if I had a good working relationship with a doctor there may be moments were jokes could be used to alleivate tense situations and such, but blanket statements like these…
That said, I also believe that there has been a lot of over-reaction on both sides of this issue. It is my understanding that Dr. Kelly continues to receive a lot of “hate mail”, and for ANYONE to be sending hateful mail to to someone in a situation like this… in my mind they are a a lower level than Dr. Kelly was when he made the decision to go ahead with the article. From my conversations with him, I truly believe Dr. Kelly is sorry, has learned from this, and is taking steps to make up for this mistake…. not because he is trying to fix his image or anything, but I believe he’s doing it because he does feel remose for the decision and he is of the type of character where he wants to learn from his mistakes.
Well stated Rob.