It is somewhat surprising that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has felt the need to issue guidelines on how to treat overweight patients. It surely makes sense that overweight individuals are treated with as much respect as those people who are a healthy weight, though evidently this is often not the case. Of course, carrying excess weight does put individuals at greater risk of developing health problems, but castigating someone for being obese when they turn up to see their doctor is unlikely to help the situation.
There have no doubt been cases where doctors have used a patient's visit to jump on the issue of their weight and to focus on getting them to lose weight, regardless of their health complaint. Obesity may be costing the NHS a fortune, but blaming a person for being obese without considering the impact on their mental well-being is hardly likely to improve the situation. Besides, a person's weight isn't always the best indicator of their general health, anyway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24563374
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