Obesity Lawsuits

Here’s the story Rush was just talking about in the Washington Times reporting that:

The leader of the anti-obesity lawsuit movement is threatening physicians-in-training with lawsuits if they don’t warn obese patients about their excessive weight.

The story continues:

George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf III, who has led efforts to sue fast-food chains for contributing to America’s extra weight, is scheduled to speak tomorrow morning at the annual convention for the American Medical Student Association.

Mr. Banzhaf said he will warn the aspiring doctors to be on guard for lawsuits that could stem from physicians failing to tell patients they are obese and the risks of carrying that additional weight. Patients also could sue for not being advised to try appropriate treatments or behavioral programs, he said.

Their used to be concepts at work in the world, including the legal world, involving personal responsibility. Not that those ideas are dead in the law, but there are activists who seem anxious to dispense with them.

Let me ask you honestly: Is there any American with an IQ anywhere above imbecile — even including imbeciles, on second thought — who is genuinely unaware of the health risks of obesity? How many people do you know who believe the healthiest people are clients of the Big and Tall stores — excluding the tall ones, that is? We don’t need doctors to warn us about this. It used to be that these types of ideas were considered frivolous. More and more they are being mainstreamed into society and the legal system.

I suppose this is what the Supreme Court had in mind when it once again affirmed its ingenious pronouncement: we have evolving standards of decency. No, we have accelerating displays of stupidity.