Eateries Push for Obesity Suit Protection

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Should restaurants be held liable for making their customers obese?

    • 2
      Restaurants should be held liable for obesity
    • 55
      Restaurants should not be held liable for obesity

57 members have participated

Although I feel frivolous lawsuits are a waste of time and resources and health information is available to the public about eating a proper diet I feel there are occassions where restaurants should be held accountable e.g A fast food establishment claims their fries are perfect vegeterian fare despite frying them in beef tallow.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040829/ap_on_bi_ge/cheeseburger_bills_11

Measures known as "cheeseburger bills" bar people from seeking damages in court from food companies for weight gain and associated medical conditions, including heart disease and diabetes.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

(Sniff, sniff, sniff, hmmmmmmmmm)

As it's been said on this board several times, when are people going to take responsibility for themselves and stop expecting other people to tell them what to do?

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Specializes in ICU.
(Sniff, sniff, sniff, hmmmmmmmmm)

As it's been said on this board several times, when are people going to take responsibility for themselves and stop expecting other people to tell them what to do?

I couldn't agree more. I have seen a definite trend in the "blame someone/anyone else for my problem". When I was in school, students were constantly blaming instructors for their failures. It couldn't have possibly been that they weren't studying or applying themselves. I have three kids and if I teach them nothing else, I would like them to learn to take responsibility for themselves!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

You have GOT to be kidding me. Restaurants held liable in ANY case? NO WAY! America, grow the freak UP!

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Specializes in HIV/AIDS, Dementia, Psych.

Dr. Phil said something pretty cool the other day that stuck with me. It was something like...Part of being an adult is the ability to control your urges and impulses.

I agree with that so much and it applies in this case. Yes, the food is good and almost anyone would love to be able to eat it whenever they want without consequence. But the fact is, that we, as adults, make our own choices, therefore we are responsible for the outcomes of those decisions.

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Specializes in Research,Peds,Neuro,Psych,.

Yes, people need to take responsibility for their actions. Otherwise, we could sue just about everyone for every single poor decision we make in our lives.

I can't even agree on your example about the vegetarian thing. If you want to know exactly what you are eating and absolutely refuse to have it "tainted" with something, then you could cook the food yourself.

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I can't even agree on your example about the vegetarian thing. If you want to know exactly what you are eating and absolutely refuse to have it "tainted" with something, then you could cook the food yourself.

While I agree about not being able to sue restaurants for getting fat, let's not get carried away here. A restaurant chain lying about what ingredients are used in its products (claiming that the fries are cooked in vegetable oil while actually using animal shortening) is just false advertising, the same as if a manufacturer/producer was lying on the label of food you buy in the supermarket. We have laws against that, and I think it's reasonable to expect to be able to find out what you're actually eating when you buy their products.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

False advertising is not the reason people are obese! That is a far reach. False advertising should be dealt with, absolutely, as a separate issue. But let's not use it as yet another crutch to justify the epidemic that is obesity in our nation. People CAN cook for themselves if they are really interested in controlling what goes in their mouths. That is simple.

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Although I feel frivolous lawsuits are a waste of time and resources and health information is available to the public about eating a proper diet I feel there are occassions where restaurants should be held accountable e.g A fast food establishment claims their fries are perfect vegeterian fare despite frying them in beef tallow.

if you're a vegetarian and the fries were made in beef tallow, contrary to what they advertised, then that is false advertising.

BUT no matter what the fries were made in, it's going to be fattening so stay away from the friggin' fries.

and i would truly hope that they get laughed out of court, for trying to charge others for their own weaknesses. :stone

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

They WON'T necessarily get laughed out of court, that's what angers me.

We're down to the point in this country where you can sue for anything and everything, and have a good chance of winning. Pathetic.

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you know what???

i am so g.d. sick and tired of people blaming everyone else for their own addictions.

if someone smokes, they're going to sue the tobacco companies?

or if they use, they're going to blame their doctors or pharmeucitical cos?

or if they eat themselves into morbid obesity, they're going to sue the restaurants?

come on people.

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

I can see suing tobacco companies by people who are old enough to have started smoking before we knew it was bad for you (and those people are nearly all dead now, I should think!) I also think the tobacco companies should be liable for previous efforts to hide the truth about how harmful their products are.

Currently, nutritional info is available for pretty much everything. If you choose to eat bad stuff, you live with the consequences.

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