Eliza Henderson has been thinking about getting surgery to shrink her stomach and help her lose weight for more than a year. At age 48, she’s 5-foot-3 and weighs 232 pounds, giving her a body-mass index of 41, well over what the National Institutes of Health defines as obese.
“I just never wanted to take the plunge,” she said. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Lockdowns forced her to work from her home in Suffern, N.Y., instead of her Manhattan office as a secretary for a drug company. She anxiously consumed snacks, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and beer with her husband, gaining 10 pounds. When public-health officials began warning that obesity and the related problems of diabetes and hypertension were among the biggest risk factors for Covid-19, Ms. Henderson asked her doctor to schedule a gastric sleeve surgery for Oct. 19.
Unacceptable Behavior
There are two trains of thought after reading this article:
1) It’s great to hear she’s being proactive.
2) Is everyone taking crazy pills that this is acceptable?
When did individual responsibility get replaced by Covid 19 excuses and doctor interference? Let’s key into, “she anxiously consumed snacks, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and beer with her husband.” Wat? How can a reader of this article condone this type of response to Covid 19?
Assuming we disregard individual responsibility for being healthy, how can we use Covid 19 as the reason this is happening? Multiply this scenario times a few hundred million and you can start to see the repercussions of lockdowns…assuming we are ok with this story and solution to the problem being bypass surgery.
People read this and feel sympathetic. You should be outraged. Who pays for this surgery? I’m sure it’s not $1,000 dollars. Does insurance cover this or do the taxpayers pick up the tab on another human’s poor ability to manage themselves? Is this person unable to eat healthy and exercise? Sadly in today’s age I’m guessing she’ll have support from millions about how awful it is to be overweight and in her situation.
Husband, where are you in all this? If my wife had an obesity problem (which he does too judging by the picture), are you a cuck on the sideline of all this? You allow this destructive behavior to take place? I’m all for human beings being free to act in any way they choose but when it becomes a drag on society, someone has to step in and speak up.
People won’t like me for my take on this article because I’m not humane. I’ll add that I don’t have the entire details of their situation for the reason why this person is 100 lbs overweight. Perhaps she has diabetes, hypertension, or another disorder. It doesn’t matter much to me because this is a general observation of America as a whole. We look for shortcuts to bypass hard work.
High Pitch Erik had this surgery and reverted back to his old ways months after. This surgery is not a solution. Show me the diet and exercise routine of an obese individual and I’ll let you know if we can blame heredity, disease, or genes. This article outlines waste in the fabric of American society and people read this and turn the page. There were 250,000 bariatric surgeries performed last year. I’m not qualified to judge how successful they are as I’m sure there are success stories. However, responsibility for health has left our society and we now have excuses like Covid 19 to take the blame for inactivity. We have to do better. Tell me why I’m a jerk?
I think there’s a 3rd school of thought and that’s “I don’t give a fuck.” If their insurance pays for it or they can afford it, why wouldn’t they do a relatively safe procedure with the potential of making their weight-loss journey that much easier? Sure I would have more respect for someone who loses weight through a healthy diet and lifestyle changes but my opinion really doesn’t matter.
It’s difficult for me to really fault these people because I’m fortunate enough to have the metabolism and appetite of a hummingbird so I can’t really see things from their perspective. I don’t think many people are saying “it’s great that she’s being proactive,” maybe more “she’s using all the resources at her disposal to help cure a disease and I can understand that.”
From my experience, obesity and other similar issues are mental health problems with physical side effects. With any “addiction” there needs to be addressing of the brain/mental health and what is causing a person to use certain coping behaviors. That would result in more long term solutions compared to surgery, as it deals with the root of the problem!
I’m more like, holy shit! What a time to be alive! You wanna lose weight? Awesome! But you don’t want to change your lifestyle? Or you’ve tried, but it doesn’t work? Well shit, it’s 2020, if you’re ok with surgery, we can cut your intestine and decrease your stomach size so you’ll eat less and lose weight. Which brings me back to my original point: What a time to be alive!
And to play the opposite of:
“well who’s going to pay for this?!”
If anyone’s worried about having to subsidize this fatty’s $15k-$25k surgery today, just know that this will end up costing far less than the future cost of millions of dollars of cardiac surgeries, revolving door inpatient hospital stays, diabetes, or any of the myriad long term and expensive health effects of obesity… And that’s just the care, not even considering the lifelong prescription costs. But that’s the strain on our healthcare and how insurance pools risks as a whole. And overall, a topic for another discussion.
I think she just wants to make herself feel better, healthier. So yeah, you do you, lady! You want a life-altering, beneficial surgery to lose weight, feel great, and turn that libido into overdrive? Fuck yeah! Go do it! I don’t think this is really any different than breast implants or nose jobs.