Perhaps you have hit the nail on the head with your Rodney Dangerfield joke. Maybe the offensive part was not being told that she was fat, but that she was offensive to look at (and how that was said). I really appreciate your curiosity about this rather than immediate contempt for this woman that I am reading everywhere else I have seen this story discussed. I, too, am curious as to what exactly was said. As far as obesity responding to weight loss, the vast majority of obese people find it impossible to maintain weight loss no matter how motivated they are.

In response to Cici, the article states that he told a fat woman “she was obese.” He also states that he told her, “You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.” In fact, the article also notes that “Other overweight patients have come to Bennett’s defense.”

So far, that does not sound REMOTELY outrageous. Not that physicians can’t be rude, I just happen to know a lot more patients than doctors that qualify.

But for one second, let’s just assume that he told her straight up, “You’re fat.” Does something like this really merit a referral to the State Attorney General’s office? Seriously, is hurting someone’s feelings in an effort to prevent mortality/morbidity an actionable offense these days?

If telling someone that they are overweight (or even “fat” for that matter) is what now passes as unprofessional conduct warranting prosecution by local/state law enforcement: (1) I have several attendings I should have been ratting out to law enforcement long ago; and, (2) this profession has much bigger issues than malpractice reform.

“but I don’t want commentary on my romantic prospects from my doc, even if I’m not doing well with the weight loss thing.’

It seems from the story that he was giving her information based on a study and not, (as some responders here and on KevinMD’s blog posting have said) simply opining about her remarriage prospects off the top of his head. She apparently didn’t want to hear that. But instead of just finding a doctor who pleased her more (or didn’t care about her weight), she sought a peevish kind of revenge. So she is not only obese, she is also apparently spiteful.

I can’t decide who is worse, the patient or the ridiculously spineless New Hampshire Board of Medicine. Unless there is more to this story than is reported, I can’t seen any actionable misconduct. Why can’t the NH BOM just kick it out? And then to have a state attorney take the case? What are they smoking? It would serve this patient right to be told not by a doctor but by a judge that she was fat and nasty and to get out of his courtroom.

Seems your damned if you do, damned if you don’t in the healthcare field.

I recall a story about a wife of an obese man who sued a physician’s practice because they had never informed her husband that his obesity was life-threatening (apparently, he suffered a fatal heart attack)

Then you have patients who sue their doctor’s for the ‘offense’ of telling them they’re fat.

Yes, there are sensitive and insensitive ways of broaching the topic, but I don’t see any other situations where a physician gets sued for having a lousy bedside manner.

You can choose not to use that doctor’s services.

But a lawsuit?

America is sick.