Hospital Won't Hire Obese Workers

Nurses General Nursing

Published

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-health-resources/health-reform-and-texas/victoria-hospital-wont-hire-very-obese-workers/

I'm not sure this link will take you to the article, but I read it this morning and couldn't believe my eyes! Seems a few lawsuits will be coming their way along with the race discrimination one in place already. What do you all think about it?

but in an interview with the Tribune, Brown defended the hospital's policy as one that caters to its patients. "
The majority of our patients are over 65, and they have expectations that cannot be ignored in terms of personal appearance,"
he said. "We have the ability as an employer to characterize our process and to have a policy that says what's best for our business and for our patients."

Yikes! In that case, the patients who are over 65 may also like that their caretakers be white but too bad we can't bend to their will due to that pesky Constitution and Civil Rights Act.

I was REALLY hoping there was a more practical reason for this discrimination. I may have even sided with it. Maybe.

Specializes in LTC and School Health.

I did not read the article yet, but as long as an obese person can physically do their job then it should not be a problem. However, I worked with some morbidly obese nurses and staff that sat down and had other people do their job because they couldn't physically do it.

There are a few states that have a weight discrimmination on the books. Madison WI is one of them.

They may support their employees who want to lose weight, but they will not hire you if you happen to be obese. How long do they support their obese workers already there before getting rid of them? If a place says we won't hire someone with a BMI over 35, whats to say another wont hire you with a BMI over 27? I guess I'm wondering where it ends. I'm short, will I not be able to be hired because I'm not over 5'4"? I know that's pulling something way out of left field but I'm just wondering where the line gets drawn and who decides where it's drawn?

I agree that it is not a protected category unless it falls under ADA.....hmmmm

You can't control your height, but you can control your weight.

It looks poorly upon the profession (health) when an individual does not practice what they preach -a BMI over 35 is healthy for no one. The article and hospital are not requesting all employees come in with 6 pack abs. I think the immediate reaction, regardless of the set number in the article, is disgust over limitations for potential employment and concern over rights. As previous posters have said, this rule benefits everyone involved.

I did not read the article yet, but as long as an obese person can physically do their job then it should not be a problem. However, I worked with some morbidly obese nurses and staff that sat down and had other people do their job because they couldn't physically do it.

In that case, they should be fired because they either can't or won't do their job, not because they are obese. I've known big nurses who work just as hard, just as well, and just as long as anyone else. I've known lazy skinny nurses too.

If the hospital had said that they were tired of increasing health costs, absenteeism, lack of vitality amongst their obese nurses, I might see where they were coming from. But that's not what they said, and that, to me is a problem. Their patients are dictating an aesthetic standard. Who's to say what standard they will dictate next. Do we really want "appearance" to be a deciding factor in hiring?

Look at the staff of plastic surgeons and cosmetic dentists. 90% of us would not get an interview to those offices, regardless of our weight. If this mentality crept into the hospitals, you'd hear a lot more crowing from folks who are now defending this employer's right to discriminate not based on health issues, not on costs of insurance, but on patients' demands for a certain look.

I'm sure they will backpedal soon and spout the "obese nurses are expensive to hire, insure, and retain" line, but they've told us how they really feel about the whole thing.

This is great, how can a pt trust an obese nurse when the nurse is giving health and nutrition pt education. These nurses just make the hospital and facility look bad.

I can tell you right now that I can fully trust an obese nurse. I am not obese, but I have had obese nurses who were some of the best nurses I ever had. When I was in the hospital having my second child, my L&D nurse was obese and she was one of the nicest, caring, and competent nurses I ever had. When I was moved to the post-partum floor, I had the WORST nurse ever and she was NOT obese. She got upset with me when I needed help to the bathroom and then I couldn't pee which made her more upset because she had to show me how to use th wash bottle to make me pee. This was only one issue with this nurse and needless to say I was so upset that I made them discharge us after one day.

This is just one example of one my experiences(I've had 5 children and 3 miscarriages with DnC's), I've also had great "normal" size nurses. Size has nothing to do with the capabilities and competency of a nurse and I am just horrified that you would say that an obese nurse would make a hospital look bad. Unbelievable!!!!

Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.
the thing is, the hospital is not even making the argument that the obese workers have more absences, higher health insurance costs, etc.

if the hospital had said that they were tired of increasing health costs, absenteeism, lack of vitality amongst their obese nurses, i might see where they were coming from. but that's not what they said, and that, to me is a problem.

excerpted from the article: "but brown, the hospital ceo, said there’s more to the story than what’s written in the policy. he said that excessive weight has “all kinds of encumbrances” for the hospital and its health plan, and that there’s evidence that extremely obese employees are absent from work more often."

​so actually, the hospital is making that exact argument.

the article states that the verbiage in the policy does not specifically mention high health insurance costs as a reason for the policy. but that doesn't mean the hospital doesn't feel that those are issues.

Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

I've been a pt and I can honestly say that I didn't care less what my nurse looked like, how thin or heavy they were. Matter of fact, I can barely remember them. I was just happy that someone was caring for me.

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

So, let's see how we can do this. BMI over 30? Fired. A1C over 6? Fired. Smoke? Fired. Creatinine over 1.5? Fired. Can't walk 3 miles in 45 minutes? Fired. Can't pickup 50 pounds? Fired.

BMI over 27? Fired, you had your warning. A1C over 5.5? You might be thinking about diabetes, fired. Creatinine over 1.2? You might have kidney problems we don't want to pay for 20 years from now, fired. Can't run a mile in 10 minutes, you might have cardiac issues we can't afford, fired. Can't do 50 situps, 15 chin ups, or 100 push ups, you can't make the grade, fired.

Now, you may not be able to spell IV, know dobutamine from a doberman, and have the bedside manner of Mengele, but if you look good, that's what matters. Wonder if that's going to apply to MDs and execs, or just nursing and other plebs?

My BMI's 29, BTW, and I run 4x week. My goal is to celebrate my 50th birthday by running a marathon. They can kiss my fluffy gluteus max!

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry, PACU, Med-Surg.
I stand behind my words, I could care less about the cry babies I may upset.

Patients want to see a staff that resembles good health. How does an overweight nurse, or doctor, or any other member of the staff resemble good health. With that, how is a member of the staff of a medical facility that does not outwardly resemble good health able to portray the messages and education effectively. They cant, the patients will see the person and a lot of the time ignore the message, the nurse is teaching them about there nutrition, or blood pressure or cholesterol.

Its very hard to trust you, with your complete lack of grammar and spelling skills.

Why is not hiring for weight any different than not hiring for smoking? Each is equally difficult to remedy. You could argue that both might be the result of an addiction or "out of the control" of the person. Both cause more sick days and increased medical costs. For women, it is almost harder to stop smoking than to lose weight.

Why should the other nurses take up the slack for an obese nurse or, on the other hand, one who has to take smoke breaks every hour? For every obese nurse that swears she is just as healthy as a skinny one, one smoker could swear the same thing. My daughter is a family practice MD. A very obese patient (one of the hospital nurses) was complaining in her office (as her patient) that the said nurse could not make it across the hospital parking lot without stopping for breath. My daughter looked up and innocently asked if she could assist her in losing weight. The nurse acted like her doc was nuts. All she wanted was a disabled parking sticker. Well, if the nurse can't make it across the parking lot, how is she handling her patients?

Mixed feelings. I can understand the health aspects, and 35 is pretty liberal. But what happens if you get hired at 22 and you are thin, then 30 years later in menopause you are obese? Do they fire you? I think they are using weight as a health risk for their real agenda which is to have a certain appearance. Sounds very Beverly Hills of them.

I knew of a few nurses who got hired for a large insurance company. They paid for them to get gastric bypasses without going through so many of the usual hoops. The formerly obese nurses are now thin, healthy and happy. If employers are going to do this then maybe it is time to make it easier for people to get help with their weight. Not that everyone needs bypass surgery, but insurance companies make it very difficult to get this when you need it, and preventative things such as reimbursement for exercise facility membership is sadly lacking in many plans.

I've been a pt and I can honestly say that I didn't care less what my nurse looked like, how thin or heavy they were. Matter of fact, I can barely remember them. I was just happy that someone was caring for me.

:redbeathe this!!!!!

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