January 7, 2011

Suing the government because it didn't stop you from becoming the fattest man...

... in the world.

Is this what happens when the government is in charge of health care? Yes, it's delusional. But delusions are what happen when the government succeeds in convincing people that it is the solution for all of the problems.

30 comments:

Kirby Olson said...

In Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge this would have never happened.

If you're going to go communist, go all the way.

Gahrie said...

If he was under the care of a doctor and receiving homecare, he has a case.....

Wince said...

Is that his "junk" protruding between his legs?

"Now it's a party."

Unknown said...

I'm surprised they didn't send him a manual on assisted suicide.

Seriously, there is only so much any external entity can do (short of the people such as Kirby mentions). This is what happens when government lets you think you don't have to do anything for yourself.

KCFleming said...

The perfect socialist citizen.

Infantile, mewling, helpless, completely dependent, perpetually dissatisfied, intellectually inert brats.

Nals said...

Let this be a lesson: if you are now or have ever been the fattest man in the world, Obamacare may fail you. REPEAL!

coketown said...

"Honey, the reporters will be here any moment. Put on something slimming."

cheddar said...

I don't understand his anatomy.

AST said...

I saw that earlier and told my wife, but she wouldn't look at the photo. That guy's puffier than the Sta-Puft Man. I think he was over 600 lbs.

I predict that his case gets tossed. But it is worth considering that he was put on a 5 year waiting list for a stomach bypass operation. If a health insurance company in the U.S. did that, wouldn't there be a cause for bad faith?

Or maybe he could find "work" at a sideshow.

KCFleming said...

"I don't understand his anatomy."

Start with Michaelangelo's David, and add a gross of cauliflower.

coketown said...

Actually, no, fatass is right. The government should have to pay his medical bills.

Oh wait...

Ralph L said...

He's half the man he used to be, but still more than 3 of me.

Who shovels the food to these people, and why doesn't he sue them?

Megaera said...

They all have enablers -- family members, spouses, friends, groupies, who know -- who make it possible for them to reach these insane weights and maintain them. Think for a minute about how much food 20000 calories represents, EACH DAY, and realize that that was what he was consuming, in some form, and it was prepared and brought to him by someone, each day, every day, because I guarantee he certainly wasn't getting up and getting it himself. He isn't the only sick person in that household.

Lisa said...

He is suing because he asked to see an eating disorder specialist but was instead sent to a nutritionist.

Nutritionists are useless at his size. He wasn't eating the wrong things. He couldn't stop eating.

It's like sending a drug addict to a DARE session at an elementary.

The Dude said...

Livin' large, oh yeah. He was wondering if you are going to eat all those sweet potatoes...

Leland said...

I see it is not a lawsuit that the Professor hopes fails.

Hagar said...

"First, let us kill all the lawyers!"

paul a'barge said...

Feed the fat mutt to the Polar Bears on an ice floe.

Opus One Media said...

Pogo said...
..."Infantile, mewling, helpless, completely dependent, perpetually dissatisfied, intellectually inert brats."

I don't think that it mentioned him being a republican congressman but perhaps I missed it...

Opus One Media said...

AST said...
" If a health insurance company in the U.S. did that, wouldn't there be a cause for bad faith?"

I read where the republicans have come up with a solution to the problem of who gets what health care:

...The steel trap mind of Governor Brewer......

Tibore said...

"Judy said...
I don't understand his anatomy.


Pogo said...
Start with Michaelangelo's David, and add a gross of cauliflower.


Heh, Pogo... I was going to say 'use the Michelin Man as a reference'.

Chip Ahoy said...

There was a woman in my building who was morbidly obese. She possessed a lively and engaging intellect, conversant on any topic. She showed an interest in what I was doing at the time and she expressed a desire to join me to observe and possibly participate. She fished for an invitation. The thing was, I knew she was washing her clothes every single day because she had to. Her multiple health problems caused her to evacuate uncontrollably requiring continuous changes of clothing. I knew, or I sensed, if I did extend an invitation, her weight would destroy my furniture, and if not destroy it, most likely soil it. I debated internally, but that alone prevented me from being more open. Knowing my objections were all probabilities made me feel like narrow-minded discriminating asshole. Within a few months she died, nobody knew from what exactly, she had no real friends. Just gone. Does that make me bad? Because I feel bad.

There was another woman much younger and less interesting. She married another obese man. They were made for each other, but how they could possibly 'fit' is a matter of conjecture that my own imagination refused to investigate. Suddenly the woman appeared with the biggest infant I have ever seen. How she could have such a huge thing inside her without even showing is astounding. There was no apparent difference before and after delivery.

The story under discussion, though, is one of a guy trying to game the system that is in place. If the system was different, so would the game. We have a lot of that here too. [My problem is caused by you because you created this (portion of the) world which I must live.] Absent from that perspective is the array of options.

somefeller said...

But delusions are what happen when the government succeeds in convincing people that it is the solution for all of the problems.

True, but delusions are also what happen when people are, well, delusional. In fact, you're playing his game by implying that his delusions have been created by the political and economic system of the country he lives in, so he's not completely responsible for them. How about some personal responsibility here, namely - it's his own fault for getting as fat as he has (barring some weird thyroid issues), as well as the fault of those around him who enabled this to happen. Delusions are also what happen when people insist on blaming the government or other forces for their own problems.

William said...

Hideously fat men are grosser than hideously fat women...He shouldn't despait. They are making a tv series based on Jabba the Hut, and he's up for the part.

Penny said...

So much hate for the fat guy, yet none for the NHS and socialized medicine?

This guy's eating disorder was so serious that he used to steal money for food out of letters at the post office, thereby losing his job. He convinced his mother to get a second mortgage on her house, thereby losing the support of his family.

He begs for help and is told to ride a bicycle more, and hundreds of gained pounds later begs again, only to be sent to a nutritionist.

No empathy for the fat guy though. Just disgust.

Clear to see where fat falls on the Althouse hateometer. Above socialized medicine for sure.

Synova said...

It seems to me that the guy knew he had a problem and tried to get help for it. It's the opposite of that lady who starved herself to death, isn't it? He knew he had a problem but knowing what the problem was wasn't enough to simply stop. Just like knowing she was starving herself to death didn't suddenly make it possible for that lady to eat. Addiction is probably a good comparison.

It's true enough that the solution to anorexia is "eat" and the solution to obesity is "don't eat." If it was that easy no one would be obese. Not ever.

I think that someone in the US with health insurance would be suing the insurer in the same situation. Is the UK one of those places where it's against the law to pay for private medical care? If so, a person doesn't have to feel "entitled" in order to be at the mercy of the government "death panels." It could be telling a grossly obese person to ride a bike or only authorize a nutritionist, or like a lady I know, have the doctor refuse the endorsement to send her husband to a specialist for his sleep apnea because he wasn't *fat* and only fat people get sleep apnea.

If you're restricted from the specialist you think you need to have by a government doctor who disagrees with you, what do you think that is?

Megaera said...

@Synova - there may be a medical problem in this man's life, but as long as he has his cadre of supporters who shop for his food in mass quantities and prepare it and bring it to him, he will never change. Bariatric surgeons commonly have a requirement that a patient wanting surgery has to demonstrate actual desire to lose by (!) actually losing a specified amount of weight (20 or 30 lbs e.g.) before they will approve the operation. It often proves a staggerer for the would-be patient who will do anything to lose weight -- anything, that is, but give up eating.

There was a reality show about a bariatric center in NY, and a patient who had to be transported there in winter by ambulance (wt +/- 600 lb) He lived in a brownstone with a 12-step stoop which was covered with ice, and there were extreme difficulties getting him down those steps. Clearly he never did them on his own -- how did he get the food that allowed him to maintain that weight? Enablers. All these people have them, can't in fact live without them. Don't have any clear understanding of the relationship, don't Want any clear understanding, frankly, but I PROMISE you, wherever there is a huge person like that, there is at least one, and more often two or more people very much in the background who are making it either possible or necessary for him or her to be that way. With the very limited exception of the independently wealthy Howard Hughes-type nutbag who can pay for all that background support himself -- and those are few and far between -- these folks are all the product of someone else's help and loving care. Think Mrs. Joyboy, if that rings any bells.

The Dude said...

Ah, The Loved One. Watched that when it was first released. I wonder if it is worth watching again...

WV: hital - what the hilal fast food joint becomes when you ask for bacon.

jaed said...

It's true enough that the solution to anorexia is "eat" and the solution to obesity is "don't eat." If it was that easy no one would be obese. Not ever.

Most of what you write is completely true, but I think you mean to say "COE", not "obesity". Obesity is a body shape. What this man has is compulsive overeating disorder. There are plenty of people with one but not the other.

As far as I can tell, he's not suing the government because it didn't stop him from gaining so much weight; he's suing his medical provider because they didn't provide competent care for his serious mental illness. (The fact the NHS is part of the government need not obscure this point; he'd have the same case against a private insurer that wouldn't authorize effective treatment and instead tried to fob him off with a "nutritionist".)

Penny said...
This comment has been removed by the author.