Obesity is prevalent throughout the world and it poses a major public health challenge
Obesity is prevalent throughout the world and it poses a major public health challenge. As a result, worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975 (World Health Organization, 2018) and levels are still continuing to rise at an alarming rate, thus circulating a question as to whether this disease should be given treatment. Consequently, this essay will focus on whether doctors should or should not treat obesity as it is deliberated to be a self-induced disease that patients have inflicted upon themselves.
Obesity is a known risk factor for causing Type 2 diabetes due to unhealthy lifestyle choices which could be changed if patients altered their lifestyle choices however the trouble is that if this does not change, it could lead to the termination of the NHS as their budget is considered unsustainable, ultimately leading to privatization.
Healthcare should be provided and available to everyone regardless of the type of disease, age, or financial obligations, as it is deemed to be a basic human right, therefore this links back to the concept of whether doctors should treat patients with a BMI (body mass index) above average. Although, healthcare is expensive to maintain
Statistics demonstrate that x% of overweight patients are being denied treatment as their weight poses a threat when performing complicated surgeries, ultimately putting their lives at risk of developing serious conditions during the procedure. “Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site, found that 593 (54%) of the 1,096 doctors who took part in the self-selecting survey answered yes when asked: “Should the NHS be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatments to patients unless they lose weight?”” (Campbell, 2012) This clearly demonstrates that a large proportion of doctors believe that unhealthy behaviour can make procedures less likely to cooperate therefore the NHS is not obliged to devote and waste scare resources to them.
On the other hand, the percentage of doctors in favour of regulating treatment to patients who fail to look after themselves, embody a tectonic shift for a profession that has always pursued to offer healthcare to those who need it.
