It began with one of our deans telling us that the greatest risk to success in medical school is distraction; our obsession natures can lead us down either path. My mind leaped guiltily to this blog.
Then we sat through two hours of supposed bioethics lectures on obesity and bariatric surgery, in which the conversation took a disturbing turn towards overly simplistic ("we may have the principle of autonomy but it is as simple as, 'no, you can't eat the foods that you want'") and mocking ("don't you hate it when you see people on the treadmill reading a book?"). It's not exactly groundbreaking to say that obesity is a complicated topic with entrenched socioeconomic and cultural issues, but I don't feel that our lectures today moved us anywhere towards an answer. How can we, mostly thin, mostly white, all privileged, help our patients who struggle with their weight? I felt a little ashamed of ourselves and glad that no patients were in the room to witness the discussion, or lack thereof.
Let's all try to enjoy food, cook quickly, eat more fruits and vegetables, and avoid saying and thinking nasty things about the people around us.
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