I was watching a British documentary about hospitals/ambulances now needing to accommodate more obese people (the link to the video is here and I recommend watching it if you have the time, since it's an hour long).
Many of the paramedics, nurses, and doctors are lovely when they're dealing with the fat patients, but to be honest I have no idea how they do it. These patients eat themselves into a disability, have to be helped with everything, moan and complain constantly and are a drain on health care. I'm probably heartless, but my ideal scenario for health care would be to give fat people one chance to lose weight. If they don't do it, they have to pay for all health-related expenses out of their own pocket.
Anyone have any thoughts about the demand fat people put on hospitals? I've heard plenty of horror stories from nurses and paramedics who have to deal with them and physically carry them around, and I was wondering if anybody had any similar experiences or general thoughts.
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[–] SleepyCicada 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I’m glad it works for you. I could have saved the said 20K+ per year for my own family’s needs. Accidents, critical illness and such are covered through life and disability insurance and for me personally lack of employment is not being sacked by some random asshole, it’s a lack of need for a medical practitioner in my community.
[–] SleepyCicada 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Now, take Frank. He is a 65 year old obese man with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, diabetic retinopathy (eye problems) and diabetic foot complications. He’s lost a couple of toes already and another couple are now gangrenous. He continues to smoke (I tried quitting!), drinks a couple of Pepsi cans per day (i just love me some Pepsi) and doesn’t take his medications regularly because he forgets. He’s been counseled by multiple people for the past 20 years about lifestyle choices but clearly is not listening. He requires frequent follow up appointments to monitor his blood work and blood pressure, home visits from a nurse to check on his toes and change his dressings, ophthalmology appointments, diabetic foot exams and a surgical consult for a possible 2nd amputation. Frank actually enjoys going places to see doctors and nurses because he feels like he is taking care of his health. Also the receptionists are nice and it’s a sunny day outside so why not. And of course, all of Frank’s medical care is completely ‘free’. And this goes on for years until Frank passes away.
[–] Pm_me_ur_genetiks ago
Your 20k would not cover shit all if it came to a serious medical condition ie cancer. Time to get a real job if you are only paying 20k in taxes. Your private healthcare would also cover fuck all for treatment costs. Life and disability insurance has so many loop holes to prevent payouts.
[–] SleepyCicada ago
I don’t think it’s as dramatic as you make it out to be. 20K saved up yearly over the course of 10 years will likely cover a full treatment course for breast cancer. Then there’s critical illness insurance. A ‘real’ job is nice to have but here in Canada, 120K yearly is decent. Are you implying that the vast majority of Canadians don’t have ‘real’ jobs?