Call obese people fat, says minister

29 July, 2010

GPs and other medical staff should tell patients they are fat when describing their condition, rather than calling them obese, according to health minister Anne Milton.

Using the term fat will motivate more people to lose weight, she said, adding that it is up to individuals to be responsible for their lifestyles.

Speaking in a personal capacity, she told the BBC: “If I look in the mirror and think I am obese, I think I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat.”

Too many NHS workers worry about using the term, according to the minister, and said using the word fat over the word obese may encourage “personal responsibility”.

She said: “At the end of the day you cannot do it for them. People have to have the information.”

The NICE recently issued new guidance for pregnant women, too many of whom are obese, it said.

Readers' comments (20)

Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 3:23 pm
I agree! Call fat people fat! Why tell them lies? Oh, sorry, we are in the UK, right!? I forget that people have equal opportunities here! Hilarious!
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 3:55 pm
Yep, call em fat!
But please increase the number of psychologist we are training as the next few years will see an increase in Anorexic disorder!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Paul Carney | 29-Jul-2010 4:07 pm
I wonder what would happen if we started using other terms and names that have been considered unacceptable for somoe years? It would be considered TOTALLY unacceptable by the Minister (AND RIGHTLY SO), for instance, if we used the old terms for people with learning difficulties. I find the Minister's thoughts to be equally unacceptable!
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 4:52 pm
I agree with the minister. the UK has gone on long enough with the politically correct rubbish just so we don't 'hurt anyone's feelings'. if people are fat then call them that; if they fail something then they fail (not 'did not achieve'); if they are ignorant/stupid/lazy etc then call them that. which also leads to the perfectly right decision that many NHS staff should be sacked because they simply are too stupid/lazy to do their jobs correctly and the only ones who suffer are the patients.
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 5:21 pm
All of the above and the minister don't seem to like people.
So, in the spirit of the above:
Alcoholics - drunks
Mentally ill - nutters
Drug addicts - druggies
Physically disabled - spastics
Elderly - coffin dodgers
Where do you stop?
Surely there are more important things to worry about and bad mouthing people and verbally abusing them goes against basic good manners let alone good professional conduct.
The minister and above should feel ashamed
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mike | 29-Jul-2010 5:38 pm
Whilst there must always be a clinical distinction between being overweight and being obese, I actually agree with calling a spade a spade here.

And to certain posters above, this is not about verbally abusing patients, this is about telling them, in plain language, that they are too fat. This may give them the kick they need to change. Noone is suggesting that the Nurse dances round the patient calling them names and pointing, what is needed is simple plain language followed by solid advice on healthy living and eating.
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 6:31 pm
and you are typical of the bleeding heart do-gooders who do this country no favours at all
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 7:32 pm
I so agree with you Mike. Some of anonymous at 5.21pm comments are just rude terms for a condition. Telling someone they are too fat is a statement of fact as would be telling someone with anorexia they are too thin. As long as its done professionally, and no-one is suggesting that health professionals be rude to patients here, I can see absolutely no harm at all in telling a patient they need to lose weight. I am a diabetes nurse and while I don't currently call my patients fat, I do mention to them that they are overweight, none of them have ever taken offence at that. We must not treat patients as stupid, fat people know they are fat, and all the while health professionals tiptoe around them with words such as 'obesity problem' it lets them think of being fat as a medical condition, not as something which is their power to change. Let's call them fat, put the ball back in their court.
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Anonymous | 29-Jul-2010 7:33 pm
Fat = Gluttony
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Anonymous | 30-Jul-2010 11:35 am
Wow! people are really struggling with having to take account of peoples' feelings here, and a tangible denial of the impact of what they might say to people in their care, professionally or not. I notice lots of terms of hostility trying to be dressed up as plain speaking. I find it intriguing why being overweight is such a deep seated intolerance in people and a blind spotting of other factors that are having a big impact on peoples' health behaviours.
Again this is an excuse for people who have a large dose of self-righteouness, little empathy or care for how other people feel and an award of self license to spill guts as and how they choose.
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mike | 30-Jul-2010 12:03 pm
Anonymous | 30-Jul-2010 11:35 am that is complete and utter rubbish. If you read my answer at all you would see it was nothing to do with that at all.

Fat people know they are fat, it is as simple as that. As another poster said, dressing it up as 'obesity levels' and being overweight simply gild the lilly, they 'medicalise' their problem and that is unhelpful to patients.

Some people simply do need to be told, you are too fat, lose weight.
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Anonymous | 30-Jul-2010 12:43 pm
As I have said all along, a politician who does not converse with the professionals. What an absoloute idiotic statement she has made. If everyone was the same, we would be as ignorant as her. What rubbish she is spouting. Am I surprised by her twoddle? Yes. Of all the rubbish this coalition have branded about, more rubbish is being spilled. Does she not realise that everyone has different emotional responses? I am fat, I can deal with it, but my wife finds it offensive to be called fat. If I were to say all tories are idiots, will she find it offensive? Not far from the truth I know, but this ignoramous should at least engage with us before spouting.
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Anonymous | 30-Jul-2010 1:25 pm
try and consider my response mike, don't just react. I did read your comment several times just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, hence the Wow!
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Anonymous | 30-Jul-2010 1:59 pm
As a fat/obese individual, i dont care if you call me fat or obese - This comment is typical of the idea that people are fat/obese for one reason only, they are too lazy to do something about it - The majority of fat/obese people are not happy about it and they will have tried various things to deal with the matter - Rather that name calling, support and advise would be better so that they can give themselves the tools to do something - Calling somebody fat will have the same effect as calling an alcoholic a drunk and calling a drug addict a junkie - none what so ever
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Anonymous | 2-Aug-2010 8:08 am
OK. Im a nurse and I am fat and I know it. Why call it obese and pretend its some sort of medical condition that just happens. Previous comments by one person are particulalry offensive ie spastics. They have a medical condition they can do nothing about. I get stressed.....I eat...I get fat.......end of.
Maybe some more psychological support for fat people to deal with their lives is required. How many GPs stick their patients on antidepressants and never offer any of the talking therpaies. Fatness is the biggest contributor to IHD, IDDM, CVA etc so lets just call it fat and actually provide some constructive assistance to us fatties to do something about it rather than argue and debate what we should call it
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bob | 2-Aug-2010 12:43 pm
It seems important to differentiate between speaking plainly with kindness with a mind to be helpful and plain name calling.
It also seems important to recognise that names have deep impact on people and different people respond differently to that.
The other thing that seems important to acknowledge is the different causes for people being over or underweight, including the myriad of emotional and psychological issues involved. It's not been my experience that somene feels able to change a lifetime of coping mechanisms by just being told the obvious reality, the awful diseases to come and compounding a deep sense of shame a lot of people have. I agree with the above comment that talking therapies are much needed and not solely CBT orientated. Talking therapies I would argue should always be considered as a first option prior to medicating people, and then in combination if medication is needed.
I don't think things will change until we as a profession and as people start recognising that we are complex beings rather than dry textbook cases, and that how we feel affects how we behave and the impact on our physiology.
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Anonymous | 3-Aug-2010 11:30 am
I seem to remember as a fundamental part of our training was the word non-judgemental...I think we need to go back to that and I don't think it's appropriate to insult patients,because no matter how you dress it up that is what is happening here. If you want to insult people,become an MP they insult our intelligence on a daily basis..just ask the lovely Mr "I believe in what I stand for "Clegg.
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Anonymous | 3-Aug-2010 11:36 am
mike,...grrrrrr! i'm really glad i don't know you.
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john wilson | 3-Aug-2010 3:35 pm
Hehe

what about calling smokers chemically infatuated? or naughty nicotiners.

Its just a use of words to gloss over telling somebody they have a lethal problem and to make ourselves feel better, as professionals and people, because we are not really doing anything about these problems.

For example government funded community gyms?
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mike | 4-Aug-2010 10:53 pm
Anonymous | 3-Aug-2010 11:36 am, ditto.
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