Dr. Ben White

As a millennial, it hurts my heart. I have really fond memories from childhood of watching you in Matilda and Michelle in Harriet the Spy. I’m sorry for your loss.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not the same, but feels similar in some ways. It’s a choice, similar to someone forgoing cancer treatment. It changes the timeline to our demise. It was something that I had to wrestle with early in my career. Looking back, I have no regrets.

I think there are ICU and hospice nurses that might have an interesting take on this. Some of the actions legitimately taken for patient comfort, may hasten death. For example, morphine given for dyspnea, a drug that causes respiratory depression. We make choices every day that impact our mortality.

🫡 Pour one out for the old ones that work to buy games for their Steam library they will never have time to play.

I think that is an important distinction. I’m not denying that there are probably people using them when the risks far outweigh the benefits. However, many people need them and can not get them covered, even with the exorbitant amounts paid for insurance in the USA.

As with any prescription medication, you weigh the costs and the potential benefit. For someone facing morbid obesity, I think they would choose the potential benefit of lowered risk for heart disease and diabetes over the purely cosmetic effects of weight loss mentioned in the article you linked.

Tell me you’ve never been fat without telling me you’ve never been fat.