Prejudice kills
Jan. 14th, 2009 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nancylebovA man was left to die because he was fat and his house was messy.
While I don't think that behavior is typical of EMTs, I bet that wasn't the first time. It might have been the first time that a phone was left off the hook and the conversation was recorded.
It's not rare for fat people to have even more trouble than thin people in getting medical care of any sort-- I keep seeing people say that they showed up with serious problems, and were told to lose weight. It's important for everyone to be assertive about their care, and more so if you're fat.
Aside from the general awfulness of the situation, the claim is that fat is a problem because it makes people unhealthy, but I wonder how much of the statistics are actually related to bad medical care and dangerous methods of losing weight.
Link thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
filkertom, and the story's been showing up all over my friendslist.
More links: http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4012856.This_is_the_man_paramedics_are_accused_of__leaving_to_die_/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4030456/Paramedics-arrested-after-ignoring-dying-man.html
http://news.google.com/news?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&ie=UTF-8&tab=wn&ncl=1288260395
Addendum: Being assertive is only feasible if you're reasonably intelligent and not too ill. The comments to the link point how much at risk developmentally disabled people are. Pushing for a kinder attitude is important as well as assertion for individuals.
While I don't think that behavior is typical of EMTs, I bet that wasn't the first time. It might have been the first time that a phone was left off the hook and the conversation was recorded.
It's not rare for fat people to have even more trouble than thin people in getting medical care of any sort-- I keep seeing people say that they showed up with serious problems, and were told to lose weight. It's important for everyone to be assertive about their care, and more so if you're fat.
Aside from the general awfulness of the situation, the claim is that fat is a problem because it makes people unhealthy, but I wonder how much of the statistics are actually related to bad medical care and dangerous methods of losing weight.
Link thanks to
filkertom, and the story's been showing up all over my friendslist.More links: http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4012856.This_is_the_man_paramedics_are_accused_of__leaving_to_die_/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4030456/Paramedics-arrested-after-ignoring-dying-man.html
http://news.google.com/news?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&ie=UTF-8&tab=wn&ncl=1288260395
Addendum: Being assertive is only feasible if you're reasonably intelligent and not too ill. The comments to the link point how much at risk developmentally disabled people are. Pushing for a kinder attitude is important as well as assertion for individuals.
