Sky News: In Great Britian, Doctors losing patience with fatties - banning joint surgery on morbidly obese - why not try the GOV Huckabee way?

HighViz PR's Abbe Buck: This is highly personal, folks. Right now I am sitting here, typing this blog, and when I stand up, I am on crutches. You see, I need a complete knee replacement of my left knee, with my right knee to follow soon after - but must lose another 30 lbs before I earn my first new body part! And I agree with my orthopedic surgeon on the need for weight loss. The surgery will not be effective on a fat person. I kicked all sugar and all flour --anything refined -- last November and have lost 54 lbs in 99 days sans exercise and diet pills (LOL!- exercise will follow with knees) --but am certainly not out of the woods yet. This will be a lifetime process, trust me on that- sugar and flour are AS ADDICTIVE if not more so as tobacco, alcohol or meth, period. I can never have them again.

As I also await surgery, I truly believe that this ban SHOULD also happen in the US - I think that the AMA should recommend it, hands-down. Most --(possibly ALL of us) fat people are ADDICTED to certain foods, and have to put them down in order to STAY ALIVE.

SEE: Obese Face Treatment Ban - (story below)

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The Governor Huckabee Way - how the US can model off of "Healthy Arkansas"
One prominent person who agrees with me, and who did not go the gastric surgery or "pill = hoodia" route is Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. He believes, as I do, that sugar + flour are as combustible as gasoline mixed with water. He was a ticking time bomb, but sought help. Two years and a best-selling ("Quit digging your grave with a knife and fork") book later, he seeks to get the word out through the "Healthy Arkansas" initiative.

(((Hey, I am a publicist. I have already called the Gov's press secretary Alice Stewart*-- I think I can help Mike Huckabee right here in Washington, DC -- say, why not?)))

*Healthy Arkansas Restaurant Award Winners: http://www.arkansas.gov/governor/media/releases/press/02162006-1.html

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Obese Face Treatment Ban
Sky News - Updated: Friday February 03, 2006
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-13501964,00.html?f=rss

Almost 40% of doctors believe the obese, smokers and those who drink too much should be excluded from certain clinical treatments.

A poll found that 39% agreed that action taken by primary care trusts in Suffolk to bar obese people from joint surgery was justified.

The same proportion said such a policy should be widened to exclude smokers and excessive drinkers from certain clinical procedures.

The vast majority - 96% - said they would welcome an open debate on rationing in the NHS in order to clear up confusion about the subject.

The survey was carried out for the British Medical Association News.

Last year the Government's treatment watchdog said that patients could be denied treatment in some cases if lifestyle factors such as smoking or being obese made it ineffective.

Smokers could be hit, too

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said doctors should avoid discriminating against patients with conditions that are, or may be, self-inflicted.

But their report said that if self-inflicted factors meant that drugs or treatment would be less clinically and cost-effective, this may need to be considered when producing advice for the NHS.
Around half of respondents in the BMA poll did not believe that treatment should be rationed for the obese, smokers or heavy drinkers.

Many of the doctors were aware of the difficult questions that rationing raised and the objections and concerns from the public.

Timothy Knight, a Warwickshire locum GP, said that rationing was a political matter.

"We can try to act as gatekeepers and point out what patients can realistically expect.

"But ultimately the person who says 'no' should be clearly representing the rationing authority - that is not the GP."

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