The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: bijou on July 24, 2010, 04:03:18 PM
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... SNIP ... Now we're hearing the airline recently removed a 5-foot-4, 110-pound Sacramento-area woman from a plane so a hefty passenger could have an extra seat.
The incident happened last week on an early-evening Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Sacramento.
The local woman was flying standby, paid full fare for the last available seat, got on board, stowed her bags and sat down – only to be told she would have to deplane immediately.
The reason?
A late-arriving passenger required two seats because of her girth.
The Sacramento woman, a frequent-flying sales rep, was stunned.
"It didn't seem right that I should have to leave to accommodate someone who had only paid for one seat," she tells us. (She has asked to remain anonymous for fear some may regard her as insensitive.)
She's even more miffed because she says Southwest personnel berated her when she questioned the decision to boot her from the plane.
... SNIP...
In this instance, she says, airline personnel may have been influenced to choose a faster course of action to reduce embarrassment for the late-arriving passenger.
Why the extra concern? The person requiring two seats was just 14 years old.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/24/2911747/petite-flier-booted-off-southwest.html#ixzz0udUBgmZy
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She was standby. They can't bump a 14 year old.
:yawn:
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She was standby. They can't bump a 14 year old.
:yawn:
I'm assuming that unaccompanied minor arrangements had also been made. That should have been the first thing the flight attendants told the bumpee.
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Just one more reason not to fly the, "Ghetto Bus of the Skies..."
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If a person can't fit...and fit reasonably into one seat...they should have to buy two tickets.
I have been on flights next to some men, that I've had to lean out of my seat, because they are overflowing into my space. Not a comfortable situation.
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But it DOES say something when a 14-year old child is so obese they can't fit into one seat. I'm not small by any stretch and I'll be damned if I've ever had a problem fitting in one...even on Ghetto Bus Airlines.
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If a person can't fit...and fit reasonably into one seat...they should have to buy two tickets.
I have been on flights next to some men, that I've had to lean out of my seat, because they are overflowing into my space. Not a comfortable situation.
Part of the problem though is not that people are fat, it is because the airlines have reduced seat width to that of 10 year-old sizes to corral more people into the plane.
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But it DOES say something when a 14-year old child is so obese they can't fit into one seat. I'm not small by any stretch and I'll be damned if I've ever had a problem fitting in one...even on Ghetto Bus Airlines.
A 14yr old who needs two seats because of obesity....has parents that need to be charged with child abuse.
I can sort of understand the flight attendants choosing to ask the passenger to get off the plane. No...not excusing it. However...if the parents were so cruel to not buy this child 2 seats, which they easily could have done, without the child's knowledge....they would also be the type who would sue the airline for "traumatizing" their child. The flight attendants, took the course of least resistance.
The woman who was displaced had bought a full price ticket, and could have refused to leave her seat too. Might have been a very uncomfortable situation, if she had stayed. The article doesn't mention what the airline did for this woman for getting off the plane. I almost always fly Delta, and have often received either a voucher for another ticket, or a specific cash amount voucher, to not take a flight. Delta overbooks their flights all the time, have for years.
Keep in mind, that though this kid was 14....that's a minor, not a "child". I was a sophmore in high school, flying by myself at that age, and if it was not a final destination flight, the airline would not have been "caring" for the kid, like they would a child or pre-teen.
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Part of the problem though is not that people are fat, it is because the airlines have reduced seat width to that of 10 year-old sizes to corral more people into the plane.
I know.
I really like it, if there are only 2 seats on one side, because we will take those. If I'm alone, and on a much smaller plane, I take the single side.
I'm not very good at sharing my personal space with strangers.
I'm not a very good flyer, and cram me in the middle between two people....I need alcohol!
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A 14yr old who needs two seats because of obesity....has parents that need to be charged with child abuse.
I can sort of understand the flight attendants choosing to ask the passenger to get off the plane. No...not excusing it. However...if the parents were so cruel to not buy this child 2 seats, which they easily could have done, without the child's knowledge....they would also be the type who would sue the airline for "traumatizing" their child. The flight attendants, took the course of least resistance.
The woman who was displaced had bought a full price ticket, and could have refused to leave her seat too. Might have been a very uncomfortable situation, if she had stayed. The article doesn't mention what the airline did for this woman for getting off the plane. I almost always fly Delta, and have often received either a voucher for another ticket, or a specific cash amount voucher, to not take a flight. Delta overbooks their flights all the time, have for years.
Keep in mind, that though this kid was 14....that's a minor, not a "child". I was a sophmore in high school, flying by myself at that age, and if it was not a final destination flight, the airline would not have been "caring" for the kid, like they would a child or pre-teen.
She was standby, so she did not have a reservation for this flight.
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She was standby, so she did not have a reservation for this flight.
We don't have Southwest here, but I thought that if you walked up to the ticket desk and bought a full fare ticket, then you are guaranteed a seat.
I know that's how it works on Delta, because I've done it flying back and forth to Florida. If you have a ticket and are trying to fly a different flight from your ticketed flight, they will put you off if the pre-ticketed passenger shows up.
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She was standby, so she did not have a reservation for this flight.
But once again, SWA screwed the pooch. I have no sympathy for the gate crew. You're supposed to make sure all the checked passengers are checked in and on board BEFORE you start allowing standbys on board.
The policy SWA has is one of the reasons I don't like flying them. They used to have decent customer service and good fares, but that has long since fallen by the wayside with them.
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We don't have Southwest here, but I thought that if you walked up to the ticket desk and bought a full fare ticket, then you are guaranteed a seat.
I know that's how it works on Delta, because I've done it flying back and forth to Florida. If you have a ticket and are trying to fly a different flight from your ticketed flight, they will put you off if the pre-ticketed passenger shows up.
If she had a later flight and was trying to jump on an earlier one then she would have already purchased a ticket, but is not guaranteed anything but the flight she originally booked.
If this was the connecting flight for the 14 year old they should have known he was running late, and shouldn't have allowed her on the plane.
It stinks, but you take a risk when you go standby.
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Part of the problem though is not that people are fat, it is because the airlines have reduced seat width to that of 10 year-old sizes to corral more people into the plane.
Southwest flies 737s and ONLY 737s. The seat design for coach was originally used in the 707 and hasn't changed since the 1950s. If they want to put more seats on the plane, they put in more rows and make you eat your knees.
So if the seat hasn't changed, then your butt really is that big.
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But it DOES say something when a 14-year old child is so obese they can't fit into one seat. I'm not small by any stretch and I'll be damned if I've ever had a problem fitting in one...even on Ghetto Bus Airlines.
American airliners are not what they use to be. I remember from old footage of airlines back than. It was more comfortable than today. Some of the non-American airliners are better, notably some Asian airliners like Singapore and Qatar Airways. Even South African Airways is considered better.
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If she had a later flight and was trying to jump on an earlier one then she would have already purchased a ticket, but is not guaranteed anything but the flight she originally booked.
If this was the connecting flight for the 14 year old they should have known he was running late, and shouldn't have allowed her on the plane.
It stinks, but you take a risk when you go standby.
Ah, I see.
When I was a kid...HS and college, I always flew stand-by. Only one time did it not work out, and I ended up spending the night in O'Hare. I was lucky though, 2 other girls were trying to get to Syracuse too, so we ended up hanging out together.
You have to buy a reserved seat on Delta, unless you walk up to the ticket desk and buy a ticket for an available seat. You can try for an earlier flight, but they don't put you on the plane until after everyone has checked in. If you miss the flight, they will book you on the next one with an available seat, but you can try to get on an earlier one if someone doesn't show up.
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American airliners are not what they use to be. I remember from old footage of airlines back than. It was more comfortable than today. Some of the non-American airliners are better, notably some Asian airliners like Singapore and Qatar Airways. Even South African Airways is considered better.
You obviously haven't flown an Airbus, Embrajer, or some of the "regional" European carriers. I'm 5' 10" and damn near ate my knees on a Ryan Air flight.
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If she had a later flight and was trying to jump on an earlier one then she would have already purchased a ticket, but is not guaranteed anything but the flight she originally booked.
If this was the connecting flight for the 14 year old they should have known he was running late, and shouldn't have allowed her on the plane.
It stinks, but you take a risk when you go standby.
Not necessarily a full-fare ticket...which is yet another reason why I don't fly SWA. If you try to go standby, even on the same day, SWA makes you pay full-fare, regardless of how much your ticket cost when you purchased it. Only airline I've seen that does that.
And sounds to me like she got bumped and was then told too bad when she asked for her money back, as well she should have asked.
Sorry, but I've no real love for SWA in the last few years. They used to be really good, but have slipped badly.
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You obviously haven't flown an Airbus, Embrajer, or some of the "regional" European carriers. I'm 5' 10" and damn near ate my knees on a Ryan Air flight.
Never flown those European carriers and I have heard they are no different from those cheap American airliners. Ryan Air is one of the worst offender.
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I fly Frontier/Midwest. Can we say freshly baked CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!!!!
My thoughts?
Too bad for the 14 year old. Take the next flight out. McCarran is a fun airport, go ride the shuttle train for an hour or two until the next flight to Sacramento takes off.
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The woman was flying stand-by, which means that she has to wait for a flight with an open seat. Sounds like it was poorly handled by Southwest, and the kids parents should have bought two seats, but the woan doesn't really have too much room to complain. If she didn't get a refund, then yes, that would be an issue, but she got the next flight out. She still reached her destination, and sounds like she was flying home so she didn't miss a connecting flight.
It is really necessary to mention the size of the booted passenger though? Does it really matter? If she had been overweight, she would have still been booted.
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I still say SWA screwed the pooch by allowing standbys before determining if the flight was "full" or not.
I also think their policy of jacking up the fee to full fare (and we're talking upwards of $300, one-way) from a regular or Web-purchase ticket to take an earlier flight ON THE SAME DAY is bullshit. Worst thing I've ever had to do was pay $25 for a "guaranteed" standby on American. I flew SWA from Manchester to Vegas a few years back. I got there early and noticed I could catch an earlier flight which would have put me into Vegas a couple of hours earlier, and the flight was only half full.
I asked, and was told my flight was checking in full. But when I was told I'd have to pay an extra $320 to get there, I waited and took the full flight, which they were asking for volunteers to take a later flight. Poor management on their part. Now I just take the bus from Dover to Boston and fly Jet Blue or American. At least if I take AA, I get a chance of going through LAX, which really helps with the frequent flier miles.
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I usually try to stick with either Air Tran (cheap tickets) or Delta because of the points on my credit card.
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A 14yr old who needs two seats because of obesity....has parents that need to be charged with child abuse.
Deb, I'm appalled. That statement SMACKS of nanny statism..... You don't know WHY the child is obese. Unless you do, you really shouldn't be making comments like that!!
And, Patriot Game is right. The airlines HAVE downsized their seats so that an average Oriental male (5'8" and 170, tops) can fit in them. Forget it if one is above average in size. It's all about how many passengers the airplane can carry vs comfort of the passenger. Deb, you're lucky. You're barely 5'4' and medium build. Try being 6'4" or 6'5" (I shrunk, get over it) and being stuck in the cattle section......
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Trying very hard to remember what my 14 year old had to go through.
She spending the summer with her Dad was invited to spend a week with my parents in Maine.
She was in Brick NJ at the time and her father for some reason just drooped her off at the airport, she was less then 5 feet tall and weighed about 95 pounds. Just a very little girl.
When she alone in a very big airport went to the ticket agent she was told she had been bumped. However when she began to cry was told she could get a seat on another airline. from Lagurdia to JFK airport is a problem and arrangements were made for her to be taken by Taxi to the other airport and she made the flight.
One of the airlines called her grandparent and told them what flight she was on and the ETA of the plane in Boston.
She arrived safely and on the return flight her grand parents waited until she was seated.
Years later I flew my grand daughter 14 years old up from Norfork to Boston and she had an escort, we had one heck of a time retrieving her from the escort, had to have all kinds of documents to prove I was the grandmother and allowed to pick her up.
When she returned home she went on her own, we did wait for her to be seated and when the plane took off felt sorry for the attendant's on that flight as the granddaughter was a WILD ONE.
About the weight of a passenger on a plane, this is crazy, people that weigh over the seating capacity, be them 14 or 94 know they will never be able to squeeze into one seat. This is not the other passengers problem it is THEIRS.
If I have to be told at the last moment that I must give up my seat for anothers seeing eye dog that they did not pay for but I did, sorry Charley, they need the dog and must pay for the extra seat.
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Deb, I'm appalled. That statement SMACKS of nanny statism..... You don't know WHY the child is obese. Unless you do, you really shouldn't be making comments like that!!
And, Patriot Game is right. The airlines HAVE downsized their seats so that an average Oriental male (5'8" and 170, tops) can fit in them. Forget it if one is above average in size. It's all about how many passengers the airplane can carry vs comfort of the passenger. Deb, you're lucky. You're barely 5'4' and medium build. Try being 6'4" or 6'5" (I shrunk, get over it) and being stuck in the cattle section......
You're right....I don't know WHY the child is obese.
I do know that a child/adult may become obese from a disease or from a medication because I do know that some medications given for cancer, kidney diseases, and others, do cause obesity.
I also know that there are a whole lot of children out there ...at least here in E TN, who are just flat out obese. You can walk into any elementary school, middle school or high school here in this county....a county of 450,000+....and find morbidly obese children. Among other things, morbid obesity is 100 pounds above the "ideal" weight for the body structure.
According to this site.....http://www.halls.md/chart/women-weight-w.htm
The average female American womens weight is somewhere between 60 to 72 kilograms, depending on age.( for white females*).
Age: 20 to 29 yrs 30 to 39 yrs 40 to 49 yrs 50 to 59 yrs 60 to 69 yrs
kilograms 59.8 65.5 67.7 71.7 68.9
pounds 132 144 149 158 152
These are the "median" (50th percentile) weights, which are very close to-, but not exactly "average".
The weights mentioned above are pretty close to the same weights that are considered to be average for life insurance applications. Personally, I don't want to weigh as much as what "average" is for my age....thankfully I don't, because it's too much for my height and bone structure. Nevertheless..."average" is still "average".
But the point is, these are not "light-weight" amounts. And these weights are for average, adult women....not children.
If a child is needing 2 airplane seats because of her weight...she has to be weighing in well over 200+ pounds. If it is not because of a medical condition(disease)....then her parents are at fault. In my opinion, abusively at fault.
Female bodies constructed considerably different than the male body....and I don't mean the obvious by breasts or genitalia.
Women are made to have more fat cells than men are, in order for reproduction. We must be able to sustain life within our own bodies, that feed off of our bodies....which is why we have to take vitamins during pregnancy, not only for the child, but in order to keep our own body has intact as possible during pregnancy. So our bones stay strong, our teeth healthy (did you know that it wasn't all that long ago, many women lost at least one tooth per pregancy?) and the rest of our bodies are as healthy as possible.
Unfortunately, for us women, those fat cells tend to cluster themselves through the trunks of our bodies, that as we continue to gain weight throughout our lives, those little fat cells just multiply themselves, right where God planted them when we were forming in the womb. They are in our hips and thighs, bellies, breasts, upper arms, butt, and on our back. When we get pregnant, they multiply even more! They are very resistant to leaving our bodies....and put up a hell of a fight when we try to make them leave. Some will never leave without being surgically removed, or a severe health issue either caused by illness or eating disorder, or possibly an extreme amount of exercise - marathon runners tend to lose all body fat.
Because of the fat cell location on a woman's body, they are very detrimental to our health. They are through our middles....which is extremely unhealthy for our hearts. More women will die from heart disease than anything else. Clustering in our middles, is very bad for our hips. The concentration of weight though our middles, will be very detrimental to our spines and hips as we get older if we get osteoporosis, which most of us will from minimal to extreme.
A female child becoming obese at such a young age, is set up for so many health issues, let alone the mental health issues that tend to coincide with the physical ones. Obesity can cause problems in not only becoming pregnant...but sustaining the pregnancy through to term and delivering a healthy baby. Heart problems, diabetes, structural problems - knees, hips, spinal, breathing problems. The mental issues can be just as detrimental. Poor self-esteem, self-image, self-respect can all lead to suicide, promiscuity, self-mutilation, anorexia/bulimia(which can be equally as harmful as the obesity).
Females are predisposed to be mean-spirited. They can be mean in elementary school...and those that are, usually only become meaner as they get older. We've all met them....been friends of them, been enemies of them, been victims of them, and some of you men...have been married to them. Skinny girls, cute girls, popular girls....what many overweight girls aspire to be or resent that they aren't...can be a constant "in your face - what you arent!" to an overweight girl.
I have a long-time aquaintance who is smart, a very successful sales rep (she makes over a quarter mil a yr and has for several years), tall - about 5'10", probably well below the "average" weight not only for her age (she's abt a year younger than me)certainly for her height, looks great in her clothes, and is attractive. She weighed well over 200lbs when she was in elementary, through the first couple of years of high school. She's been bulemic for years, yet still sees herself as "fat". She has paper-thin skin because of the bulemia which has created a lot of skin issues, the most serious is that she has needed skin graftings after removal of some basal cell cancers on her legs, and the graftings won't take because of the condition of her skin. It's amazing that she has been so incredibly successful in her career, as her skewed sense of self has destroyed her personal life many times over.
I'm sure every woman on this board, knows at least one other woman... who was either overweight as a child, teen, or even at their current age, today....who is similar to my acquaintance.
So, yes Thor, I do think that a parent allowing their child to become morbidly obese, because of eating, is child abuse.
What an adult does to their own body, is their own business. And while a child is the "business" of the parent, it is the responsiblity of the parent to make sure that child is the healthiest it can possibly be. That's part of the job of parenting. If a parent was starving a child, you would want that child taken away from the parent..because it is harmful to the child. This is the same thing...only the reverse. The parent is harming the child either by not providing healthy foods or allowing the child to eat to extreme.
Do I think the government should "dictate" to parents how to feed their children. Of course not.
A doctor is required to report abuse to a child. Children are in a doctor's office at least once a year. A pediatrician is not going to condone obeisity in child. A child is not born "obese"...there are "large" babies (I was a month early weighing 9lb4oz) and "small" ones (my "full term", 6'4" half brother wasn't quite 5lbs at birth)...birth weight is not a definite indication of "adult" size. If a parent, of an obese child, is not willing to better control the child's diet and make sure the child becomes healthy again...then why is that not a reportable abuse of the child?
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Deb;
Let's take my daughter , for example. She put on weight after I retired from the Navy. Before that, she was fairly average for her height. Best I can say is it's NOT always the parents fault. In my daughter's instance, I would be more apt to blame the schools. Have you looked at what they feed to kids at lunch?? It's appalling!! I TRIED to get the schools to provide healthier meals and the reply I got was,"It's what the kids LIKE"!! Granted, she wasn't "morbidly obese, but she was/ is overweight. (I don't know any more). The sad fact is that once a person "reports" someone to child services, their life has just become hellish and run by the Libtards that infest the Government. BTW, her Dr saw her AT least annually when I was there, if not more often.
Then, you have Doctors that don't follow through. Look at how long it took me to finally figure out what was going on with me. TEN YEARS!!!! TEN F'N YEARS!!! My regular Doctor in MN saw me almost monthly and never ONCE did he even THINK to send me to a Neurologist. Never once did he think to send me to any other Doctor that could diagnose my condition. I had even suggested to him that I thought I has MS, ALS or something along those lines. He blew me off and said, "No, you don't have any of that" Turns out he was DEAD wrong and I was almost right. SCA parallels MS or ALS as far as its symptoms. Did he even think I MIGHT be onto something?!?!?!?!? F NO!! (I'm just a layman, so I don't KNOW anything!!)
Anyways, I think that you're wrong. Most kids see a DR. at least annually and then, there's a school nurse that sees them at one point or another.
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Deb;
Let's take my daughter , for example. She put on weight after I retired from the Navy. Before that, she was fairly average for her height. Best I can say is it's NOT always the parents fault. In my daughter's instance, I would be more apt to blame the schools. Have you looked at what they feed to kids at lunch?? It's appalling!! I TRIED to get the schools to provide healthier meals and the reply I got was,"It's what the kids LIKE"!! Granted, she wasn't "morbidly obese, but she was/ is overweight. (I don't know any more). The sad fact is that once a person "reports" someone to child services, their life has just become hellish and run by the Libtards that infest the Government. BTW, her Dr saw her AT least annually when I was there, if not more often.
Then, you have Doctors that don't follow through. Look at how long it took me to finally figure out what was going on with me. TEN YEARS!!!! TEN F'N YEARS!!! My regular Doctor in MN saw me almost monthly and never ONCE did he even THINK to send me to a Neurologist. Never once did he think to send me to any other Doctor that could diagnose my condition. I had even suggested to him that I thought I has MS, ALS or something along those lines. He blew me off and said, "No, you don't have any of that" Turns out he was DEAD wrong and I was almost right. SCA parallels MS or ALS as far as its symptoms. Did he even think I MIGHT be onto something?!?!?!?!? F NO!! (I'm just a layman, so I don't KNOW anything!!)
Anyways, I think that you're wrong. Most kids see a DR. at least annually and then, there's a school nurse that sees them at one point or another.
"Over weight" and morbid obesity are not the same. "Over" weight may lead to morbid obesity.
Over weight is caused by lots of things....poor eating habits, too much of the "wrong" foods for the specific individual, genetics, school/work lunches, dorm food, lack of exercise, emotional eating, too much beer/alcohol. And you are right, Thor...over weight is not always the fault of the child, though in some cases, it may be. Too many other factors can contribute to "over" weight.
Personally, as much as I detested it...I think taking PE out of the schools, was wrong. At least when I was a kid, and forced to take it, even all through high school, we all got almost one hour a day of exercise. How many kids even walk to school these days?
I haven't had kids eating school lunches in years, as the youngest has been out of HS for 10 years. I do remember when they were young, and eating lunch at school with them...the lunches were just as nasty as they were when I was a kid. There were two choices of the "entree", and everything else was plopped on the tray, whether it was wanted or not. I didn't have vending machines at all in school, and there were some when my kids were in HS, but they were restricted to when they could get anything from them as they were only in the cafeteria, and they could only get to them during lunch period.
Morbid obesity is 100 pounds over the average weight. A 14 yr old child does not usually gain 100 pounds in 1 year...unless there is something else wrong. Therefore a pediatrician, most likely would have seen the child at least once, if not several times, during the weight gaining period.
I know what you have been through with yourself, and not only were you mis-diagnosed/undiagnosed, you were mis-treated by your doctor. While you have/had symptoms, tests were needed to accurately diagnose you, right? The fact that the doctor wasn't willing to listen to you, was the doctor's fault. There's a whole bunch of them that are not nearly as good as they should be and though they may be legends in their own minds....there are some that shouldn't even be practicing medicine.
I don't think you can compare your situation to that of an obese child. Obesity is visible....to pretty much anyone, not just a doctor. The cause of the obesity is not, that must be determined either through medical testing, Q&A, observation.
If there is not a medical condition to cause it, then the only other base cause of morbid obesity, is food intake. Something has to trigger and/or contribute to the excessive food intake. If a parent isn't going to correct it, why shouldn't it be the kid's doctor?
I have a problem saying the "school nurse" should be a "determiner"...because I was one of the "school nurses" at my kids' elementary school, for years...and my only training was going to the Red Cross every three years for Advanced First Aid training! I know I have read and heard on tv about some school system, that is now sending notes home with the "over weight" kids to notify the parents the kid is overweight. I think that's a very wrong approach for a school system to take. Handing a kid a note like that at school, and other kids knowing about it - which they apparently did, from the reports I have seen, is just contributing to any emotional problems the kids may already have by being overweight.
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Let's go back to your initial statement........
A 14yr old who needs two seats because of obesity....has parents that need to be charged with child abuse.
Until abuse (or more likely, neglect) has been proven, it's dangerous to suggest that because that's what Liberals and Progressives would do. They WANT the State to run people's lives. That sounds EXACTLY like what you would want. Once those allegations are made and child services intervenes, a parents life has just become a living hell. Again, YOU don't know why the teen is morbidly obese. It could be something well beyond the parent's control. If anything, the family physician should be able to handle that matter, HOPEFULLY. Just like alcoholism, compulsive overeating can be just as bad. Then there's the whole hormone and glandular thing. IMO, parents rights are almost as sacrosanct as the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
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Let's go back to your initial statement........
Until abuse (or more likely, neglect) has been proven, it's dangerous to suggest that because that's what Liberals and Progressives would do. They WANT the State to run people's lives. That sounds EXACTLY like what you would want. Once those allegations are made and child services intervenes, a parents life has just become a living hell. Again, YOU don't know why the teen is morbidly obese. It could be something well beyond the parent's control. If anything, the family physician should be able to handle that matter, HOPEFULLY. Just like alcoholism, compulsive overeating can be just as bad. Then there's the whole hormone and glandular thing. IMO, parents rights are almost as sacrosanct as the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
Debk, both you and Thor are correct until one looks at genetics.
Much has to be thought about bone structure and family history.
Look back on family and friends with multiple children and there are differences in each one. The magical part of birth has one child big boned and another very small boned. Each has a unique personality and predisposition to any disease or illness that someone as a passed ancestor had unknowingly passed on. This is why Doctors want a family history from you.
It cannot be food children eat if all children eat the same thing in a family with 3 kids. 2 of the kids are skinny and one is over weight.
Has to be metabolism and inherited genes.
If one child of 4 feet tall with small bones weighs 80 pounds why not figure a sibling at that height and big boned would NOT weight more. Activity's comes in here, a child that has a sedentary life will gain weight from fat, but a brother that is into sports will weigh more do to muscle mass weigh es more then fat.
I have met a couple of young men that wanted to join the military but were turned down because of their weight.
They had to get a water test at that time to determin how much fat caused them to weigh over the limit.
Now to loose 30 pounds would involve loss of mussel mass. The Navy took them and assigned them as torpedo men on a Submarine.