A couple friend's of mine took his daughter for a well visit, her pediatrician took a look at her and flat out told her she was fat....FAT!! Not a bit overweight, she plainly called her FAT! And made that poor girl cry and she is 8yrs old for God's sake!!
The dr wanted to put her through all these blood tests and God knows what else to discard diabetes and high blood pressure and other life threatening illnesses...C'mon!! She is a perfectly healthy a bit chubby 8 year old girl. The mother told the dr that she was being insensitive saying all that in front of the kid and the father told her to F*#$& off.
He is looking for a different pediatrician (I even gave him the number of mine) and thinking of suing her (yes, the pediatrician is a woman) which I think it would be the right way to go. The kid is so hurt she wants to go on diets and have those slim shakes, you would think the dr being a woman would be more careful on not causing a complex on a little girl.
Shame on that dr!!
UPDATE: So they took her to a different dr. She is just a couple of pounds over her weight which the dr said it is not a big deal considering she is tall for her age but offered the parents the advice of giving her smaller portions if they were concerned about her becoming seriously overweight, which they were already doing since the previous incident.
He shouldn't have said it in front of her, especially not like that, but I highly doubt she's a perfectly healthy child if she's going through all of these tests. The father sounds like an immature ass. Sure, he's upset. But what talk to a professional trying to help your child (proven right by the second opinion) like a piece of trash?
I doubt if they can sue. I don't think anything will come of it. If for slander, there has to be monetary loss.
Childhood obesity is on the rise. I don't think the doctor meant any harm, it might be what encourages the girl to be more careful about eating. (And the parents) A few pounds overweight makes a big difference as a child, it's what starts your a child on the cycle of being overweight as an adult. And it's much harder to loose weight if you were overweight as a chld. I would rather have my doctor tell my child she is fat, then all the kids at school making fun of her all day long, calling her fatty.
Shame on the doctor? Shame on the parents for being idiots and you for supporting them! First off, you can't sue a doctor for being a jerk, even if she was simply stating the truth. You can't sue an MD for telling someone that they have a drinking problem or drug problem, in fact, it is up to the doctor to intervene in most cases because a life is in the balance. You have to prove negligence and harm, of which there was none. A judge would laugh you out of a courtroom for trying to bring such a stupid case, and you be responsible for lawyer and court fees. (of which, you would deserve for being a moron.) If the girl is fat, she needs to get a handle on it. At 8 years old, she is already at risk for obesity as an adult plus a swarm of other disease. the MD was totally in the right, sometimes the truth hurts, but it needs to be known so that something can be done about it. If you really care about this girl you would have said something so that she didn't have to suffer from being fat. The parents don't need a different pedi, they need to get control of their kid's weight. They are setting her up for a horrible life.
I agree. I've seen way to many fat kids. "He's just big for his age", " he's got big bones", "He's just a little chubby", "He's a growing boy," "It's just baby fat."
Oy, your kid looks like a baby whale.
Perhaps this isn't the first time the Dr. has talked to the parents about the girls weight, and they're just ignoring it. Being told point blank your kid is fat leaves no wiggle room to make excuses.Perhaps this doctor has used the gentler tones and words, and the girl is steadily getting fatter and fatter.
Now I'm not saying this is or isn't the case in this post, but trying to sue over being insulted. Free speech peeps. By all means go to another Dr., but threatening to sue is just sad.
Quoting gum.drop:you all sound so over sensitive..... she was probably trying to talk to the kid in a way the girl could understand....... she probably is "fat" and is getting told shes fine..
these kids need help and when parents ignore it because its the normal now thats sad..
good luck trying to sue a doctor for being insensitive.
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I very rarely bother to check a board twice, so debate, get mad, or whatever it is that'll make you feel better, if you don't like what I have to say, because it won't bother me :)
Instead of children needing diets parents need to feed them right and stop buying frozen and boxed processed food and using mc donalds as bribes.
How about cooking homemade meals, instead of buying twinkies bake a pie! Cut the soda out eat baked not fried really no brainer changes and kids wouldn't be fat.. Either would mothers and fathers...
If the law can be used to punish the doctor for being blunt about the childs weight... Then why can't the law step in and punish the parents for causing it?
Just saying... I shop I'm sure many here have witnessed a mother loading her Cart with crap at the grocery store one would hope it's for a big party but reality of obese society tells the truth... Many are feeding kids junk.
Go to a walmart the 1st of the month see for yourself. Maybe doctor was in bad taste but human and maybe just feed up with seeing fat kid after fat kid two side to every story... Are the parents over weight?
share birthdays??
- karladiego
on Jul. 12, 2012 at 7:51 PM