Your opinion please...

nfp147

This article came out this morning...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/canadian-mds-consider-denying-fertility-treatments-to-obese-women/article2173941/page1/

Basically, some Canadian doctors are considering denying fertility treatments to women over a certain BMI (considered obese).

I'd be interested to hear what you think about this.  

I'm a bit on the fence...I understand the risks, but I also think it's a mistake to put in place a blanket policy that excludes everyone over a certain BMI level.  I think more care should be given to looking at the health of individual patients. I know some people who are much thinner than me who are in terrible shape.

Nukke

Usually I'm not one to tout the snowball argument, but in this case I really can see a snowball effect resulting from this decision.  If women who are obese (not even morbidly obese, just obese) lose their fertility rights, what about other high risk pregnancy cases?  Little people/dwarves? 

I do think this article isn't giving enough information, though.  There seems to be very concrete reasons why so many countries are debating this issue--reasons that go beyond severe bias towards fat women.  I'd be very supportive of a law that required that any women be denied treatment if there was a very real possibility that they could harm themselves.  As the doctor said, "A patient doesn?t have the right to make a choice that?s going to be harmful to them".  I agree.  But that harm has to be the risk of serious injury or death. 

But I also think that if there is only a moderate risk for others, then the patients should simply be sat down and have all the risks and side effects explained thoroughly.  But the decision left up to them.

christieep

I agree with the above, I don't know how you can deny fertility treatments to one high risk group of women while allowing so many other high risk groups to undergo them.  There are high risk behaviors women can take part in that might cause complications and they may not tell their doctors about these (drinking, smoking, previous STDs, etc) so their doctor might think they are healthy because they aren't honest.  A woman can't hide her BMI from her doctor.  In the end all women need the risks explained, but need to be able to make their own decision in the end.

cm10/10

This makes me really angry.  Probably because I guess I'd be denied treatment (5'9- 200lbs, size 16).  I work out several times a week and watch what I eat.  I don't smoke and I take vitamins daily.  Yet, I'd be denied while a skinny smoker or whatever is approved.  What about women with physical disabilities?  Or women over 35?  booooo!!!

rccola1981

I find this very irritating as well...We are already scared that we'll have trouble because DH's insurance would not cover a follow up surgery after his weight loss surgery, as a result we're limited in what positions we can use and he has a lot more pressure on his mid-section (which I'm afraid could be a motility issue)  I know that we could both lose weight and we're trying.  I have seen much heavier people have healthy pregnancies though.

Tisharp

As a lot of you already know, I'm a bit of a fat-activist.  According to BMI charts (which are hogwash) I'm morbidly obese.  It's not hogwash that I'm morbidly obese, because I am.  It's hogwash that BMI is a measure of someone's supposed health.  Please see the slideshow I'll post below.

Anyway, according to this thinking, I should not be allowed to have children.  Nice!

There was a story recently that some doctors in (I think) Florida are going to stop taking obese and overweight patients in their practices.  It's all just assinine, IMO. 

Here's a story about that:  http://blog.twowholecakes.com/2011/05/real-quick-the-chicken-and-the-egg/

And here's that slideshow I mentioned:  http://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/

 

nfp147

Oh...what an awesome slideshow that is!

According to the "charts", I should be 125 lbs.  Good lord.  The smallest I've been in my adult life is 159 lbs and that's when I was training for half marathons.  I could not get any smaller (in a healthy way, anyway).

Tisharp

nfp147:

Oh...what an awesome slideshow that is!

According to the "charts", I should be 125 lbs.  Good lord.  The smallest I've been in my adult life is 159 lbs and that's when I was training for half marathons.  I could not get any smaller (in a healthy way, anyway).

For my height and frame, I "should" weigh 100lbs.  I was 115lbs when I was in the 5th grade.  I was also just an inch shorter than I am now, in the 5th grade.  I was also a freaking 10 year old who hadn't hit puberty yet.

I'd say that my "ideal - looking" weight from adulthood was just under 190lbs.  It may have been my "ideal" as far as looks or whatever you wanna call it, but it's not ideal for my happiness, that's for damn sure.  I was miserable at that weight.  Eating under 1,000 calories and 19grams of fat a day, and also taking Fen-Phen and we all know how healthy THAT made all the fat people back in the 90's.