Chidi Nwakpuda
The American Medical Association’s (AMA) classification of obesity as a disease in 2013 is justified and valid in its technical sense, but it is not a right judgement to pass. The AMA passed endorsed the medicalization of obseity on the grounds that it exudes characteristics of disease and provided supporting arguments for the legitimacy of this decision. They deemed obesity to be a metabolic and hormonal disease state. Obesity had characteristic signs and symptoms; it was also directly related to comorbidities like type 2 diabetes. Obesity is recognized socially to be a health issue. Typically, presumed to stem from poor dietary habits and low amounts of exercise--bluntly, laziness. On a personal level, people who are obese may feel a bit uncomfortable with their health. These three aspects were introduced because they represent complete medicalization as elaborated by Allison Reiheld in her article Patient Complains of…: How Medicalization Mediates Power and Justice”. However, complete medicalization of obesity would be detrimental to the cause and everyone directly or indirectly related to the issue. One of the main reasons the medicalization of obesity is so problematic is that it forces …show more content…
Secondly, deeming obesity as a disease generally gives more power to those who target overweight groups and may create an even stronger feel of marginalization. The third point touches on the general feeling of harrassment in the reminders of a patient’s “fault” even if the patient did not intially view their situation as such. This, as Freidenfeld’s suggests, could very well ease the tension in the doctor-patient relationships. If there is a strong disagreement on such matters, physicians lose credibility and may be infringing on patient respect in some
The American Medical Association’s (AMA) classification of obesity as a disease in 2013 is justified and valid in its technical sense, but it is not a right judgement to pass. The AMA passed endorsed the medicalization of obseity on the grounds that it exudes characteristics of disease and provided supporting arguments for the legitimacy of this decision. They deemed obesity to be a metabolic and hormonal disease state. Obesity had characteristic signs and symptoms; it was also directly related to comorbidities like type 2 diabetes. Obesity is recognized socially to be a health issue. Typically, presumed to stem from poor dietary habits and low amounts of exercise--bluntly, laziness. On a personal level, people who are obese may feel a bit uncomfortable with their health. These three aspects were introduced because they represent complete medicalization as elaborated by Allison Reiheld in her article Patient Complains of…: How Medicalization Mediates Power and Justice”. However, complete medicalization of obesity would be detrimental to the cause and everyone directly or indirectly related to the issue. One of the main reasons the medicalization of obesity is so problematic is that it forces …show more content…
Secondly, deeming obesity as a disease generally gives more power to those who target overweight groups and may create an even stronger feel of marginalization. The third point touches on the general feeling of harrassment in the reminders of a patient’s “fault” even if the patient did not intially view their situation as such. This, as Freidenfeld’s suggests, could very well ease the tension in the doctor-patient relationships. If there is a strong disagreement on such matters, physicians lose credibility and may be infringing on patient respect in some