Some ob-gyns in South Florida turn away overweight women

[djones520]

Refusing to treat obese people also means that you are de facto turning down blacks and hispanics disproportionately. The discrimination laws generally are held that if you do something which results in racial/ethnic discrimination then you are guilty of discrimination, even if your act wasn't deliberately aimed at discriminating.

Which is why those laws are bullshit.

[Novaheart]

I would think so as well, but if it's based on equipment concerns then probably not. If their equipment can't handle a 400lb woman, then what are they supposed to do?

The same thing that a doctor who practices out of his suburban home is supposed to do for wheelchair bound patients: make a reasonable accommodation. There are exam tables out there which can handle higher weights. Women who weigh over 200 are not uncommon, especially in areas where there are lots of black, latino, or pacific islander women. To arbitrarily say that they won't take these people is asking for it. And what is going to take them down is that they are lying. I have just looked online and most of these exam tables have a 300 or 400 pound weight limit.

[noonwitch]

I would think so as well, but if it's based on equipment concerns then probably not. If their equipment can't handle a 400lb woman, then what are they supposed to do?

See her at the hosptital, instead of the office. Hospitals have the necessary equipment, and all ob/gyns are on staff at a hospital. They have to be, to deliver babies.

[megimoo]

Of Megi? No one wants to see that. :eek:

Post a wide megapixel shot of your lovely self so as to capture your full girth Oh Beauteous One !

[Novaheart]

Which is why those laws are bullshit.

Those laws are intended to stop workarounds to the few legitimate nondiscrimination laws. They aren't arbitrary. They hold that you may have a policy which results in discrimination if it serves a legitimate purpose. If, for example you require that all employees be able to lift 100 pounds because that is part of the job, then it's OK. If you require that all employees be able to lift 100 pounds just because you like healthy young men or because you want to discriminate against women or midgets, then it's not legal.

[Gingersnap]

Refusing to treat obese people also means that you are de facto turning down blacks and hispanics disproportionately. The discrimination laws generally are held that if you do something which results in racial/ethnic discrimination then you are guilty of discrimination, even if your act wasn't deliberately aimed at discriminating.

I don't think that argument will really work in medicine. Docs refuse patients all the time for various reasons, including the patient's failure to follow medical advice. Refusing to treat obese pregnant women in a private clinic is no different from refusing to treat alcoholic or drug-addicted pregnant women in a private practice. Their obsession with food or drugs or whatever impacts their condition and makes adequate treatment difficult.

Outside of an emergency situation (such as waiting for the paramedics to show up), I don't think doctors have an obligation to render treatment at all, legally.

[FlaGator]

I don't think that argument will really work in medicine. Docs refuse patients all the time for various reasons, including the patient's failure to follow medical advice. Refusing to treat obese pregnant women in a private clinic is no different from refusing to treat alcoholic or drug-addicted pregnant women in a private practice. Their obsession with food or drugs or whatever impacts their condition and makes adequate treatment difficult.

Outside of an emergency situation (such as waiting for the paramedics to show up), I don't think doctors have an obligation to render treatment at all, legally.

The OBGYNs in South Florida have been refusing litigeous patients for years with no court forcing them to accept someone who is likely to sue at some point in the future.