Should Doctors be Allowed

[grandmoon]

To deny surgery to patients who won't follow their direction. ??

A neighbor is complaining that the surgeon has refused to operate on her. 

The doctor wants her to attend exercises in the hospital pool and to also loose some weight before he will do the operation. 

She has refused and he said that he feels that the operation will not be successful unless she does.

[imastawka]

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@grandmoon wrote:

Yes she is very much over weight but the operation is on her hips.  The doctor told her he doesn't feel that the operation will fix her mobility problems because of her weight and the lack of exercise.

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And there it is in a nutshell.   No point operating to fix mobility if she won't lose weight!

[polksaladallie]

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@am*3 wrote:

If a person is obese and they operate on them do the surgeons have to poke around/remove layers of yellow fat before they can get to the organ/part they want to operate on? I think I saw something like that on TV once.

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Yes, you are right.  Apart from the danger (extra time under anaesthetic etc) it must make the surgery much more difficut.

[cherry*135]

Yeah,we could have done with those details in the opening post.

Being verweight strains/wrecks the joints - knees, ankles, hips.. how does the neighbour think an operation will cure her when she will still be putting the same strain on her hips afterwards.

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

Perhaps she would benefit from support from family and friends.  

I think this is a catch 22 situation.  Moving with bad hips is excruciating.  (That would explain the water exercising). 

However, you need to move to lose weight and take pressure off the hips...... She has my sympathy.

[topsidesoul]

If the doctor operated in said friends and he or she died because of the extra weight then said doctor would not only have to deal with the fact that a patient has passed, but be open to bothe patients family and the medical board.

As horrible as it sounds you need to follow the doctors request, they wouldn't be doing it without a good reason.

[***super_nova***]

Several of my friends & my mother had hip replacement op.  All fit and active beforehand; after the op during the first few weeks they had to walk with crutches or walking frame certain distance every day.  It was very painful & took lot of effort and determination to do that.  If somebody does not try  before why would anybody think they will make the effort after the op?  Together with all what was said above re- extra danger and difficulty to operate on somebody so large, it makes perfect sense for doctor to refuse.  People cannot expect all their problems to be fixed by somebody else; it just does not work that way.

[grandmoon]

Well I am in the doghouse with her as I relayed your answers to her. 

She told me that she thought that as I have had hip surgery myself, I would understand more than anyone else how she felt. 

The fact that she is carrying 50% more weight than I did before my operation she doesn't understand that it makes a difference.

I still couldn't get through to her so I am giving up even trying now.

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

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@grandmoon wrote:

Well I am in the doghouse with her as I relayed your answers to her. 

She told me that she thought that as I have had hip surgery myself, I would understand more than anyone else how she felt. 

The fact that she is carrying 50% more weight than I did before my operation she doesn't understand that it makes a difference.

I still couldn't get through to her so I am giving up even trying now.

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   You can't make people accept your help.....You tried...

[happyroo_bunji]

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@grandmoon wrote:

Well I am in the doghouse with her as I relayed your answers to her. 

She told me that she thought that as I have had hip surgery myself, I would understand more than anyone else how she felt. 

The fact that she is carrying 50% more weight than I did before my operation she doesn't understand that it makes a difference.

I still couldn't get through to her so I am giving up even trying now.

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You can't help people who won't help themselves.  I would give up trying too.