By Barbara Berkeley
Well, what say we start off the New Year with a really contentious topic? Is it OK to have a surgeon general who is overweight?
President Obama recently named a new top doc, Dr. Regina Benjamin. Dr. Benjamin is an obviously dedicated, talented family practitioner who has been a voice for the underserved population in her home state of Alabama. She has provided an enormous amount of free care and has been a staunch advocate for her patients. Furthermore, she focuses on preventable illness. For more on her background, click here.
But Dr. Benjamin, who is 52, is overweight. By her own admission, multiple members of her family have died from preventable illness including HIV, lung cancer, diabetes and hypertension. The New York Times’ Well Blog recently solicited comments about Dr. Benjamin’s weight as it relates to her status as chief physician.
I found the comments to be both fascinating and instructive. I didn’t agree with most of them and I wondered what your take might be. We have a unique population on this website so I am very interested about your opinion. In case you don’t feel like scanning all the comments, they fell into a couple of broad categories:
1. How dare we use weight to judge someone’s fitness for a job.
2. Criticisms about weight would never be leveled at a man.
3. Dr. Benjamin is preferable to someone who looks like a bikini model. She can understand what we’re going through.
4. Dr. Benjamin’s weight “enhances her credibility.”
You will read my comment below, but before you do, I would like to add that I doubt that male wellness advocates like Dr. Oz would be taken very seriously if they were overweight. I do believe that he would be looked at critically if that were the case, just as Dr. Phil was when he suggested he was an expert in weight loss.
Here was my response to the Times:
“It’s hard to address this without sounding petty, but this issue is not as simple as it might seem.
"Obesity and the costs generated by its related medical conditions are the crux of our current national struggle with health. As we go into the future, the battle with obesity is certain to intensify. Johns Hopkins University, for example, has predicted that 86% of Americans will be overweight by the year 2030. Our health care system cannot survive the onslaught of diabetes, hypertension, cancer, heart disease and the like which will be generated by such figures.
"While it may be comforting for people to see a physician who looks like other Americans, Dr. Benjamin’s weight suggests that she herself has not found a good answer to the obesity dilemma. At this particular moment, we need someone who can be inspiring on this issue. We need a leader who doesn’t just struggle with the problem, but who has figured it out.
"Many of the comments above proclaim that size is predetermined. It is not. Our size comes from the interaction of a genetic predisposition with an unhealthy food environment. There are thousands of people who have been able to work this equation out, have lost weight, and have kept it off. A doctor who has made such a change and has been able to sustain it would have been the perfect candidate for surgeon general at this particular time. Over the years, scores of patients in my weight loss practice have complained that they have been unable to seriously consider lifestyle advice from doctors who smoke or are overweight themselves. While commenters above suggest that they can be more open, real life experience tells me that Dr.
"Benjamin’s solutions for weight loss will be a hard sell. At this critical juncture – and as far as obesity is concerned – we need an inspiring medical leader, not necessarily an understanding friend who looks like we do.
"I was also troubled by something Dr. Benjamin said in the appended video. When asked what she would do to curtail smoking, she spoke of getting individuals to quit. She was then pressed as to whether she would take on the tobacco folks. Here she backed off, leaving most of the responsibility for control to smokers themselves. I hope that this does not foreshadow her approach toward obesity. We have put far too much responsiblity and blame on those who are overweight and have done far, far too little to control the overstimulatory environment and uncontrolled food production which is causing the problem."
I’m curious as to what you think. Feel free to let me have it if you disagree.
