Newsreel: Too Fat to be Surgeon General?

Have you heard the news? This woman, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is too fat to be our Surgeon General.

Let's disregard the fact that she's got both an M.D. from the University of Alabama and an MBA from Tulane University, that she served as associate dean for rural health at USA's College of Medicine, or that she was the first physician under 40 to be elected to the AMA's board of trustees in 1995. Forget all the committees and commissions for health that she has served on, that she is the founder and CEO of her own health clinic (which she rebuilt TWICE after hurricane Katrina and a fire destroyed it), or that she was the U.S. recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1998. She's probably a size 12, and that's just not cool.

The controversy stems from the fact that Benjamin LOOKS "overweight," and that she shouldn't be telling other people how to be healthy if she can't be healthy herself. Firstly, I'd like to point out that, no matter how much she weighs, her pounds do not suddenly cancel out her medical degree or her myriad qualifications. And last I checked her weight was not getting in the way of her doing her job. Is she suffering from diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, or any other disease that we believe weight may contribute to (but not actually cause)? Is she unable to walk, move around, or function in her day to day life? As far as I'm concerned, the problem here is with the way Benjamin LOOKS, and not how healthy she is.

If all employers were allowed to discriminate based on appearance (namely weight), more than 50% of U.S. citizens would be out of a job. Should people be denied promotions if they aren't physically fit? Are M.D.'s to be rescinded when a doctor hits a certain weight? Yes, I believe that you should not be hired if you are so physically unhealthy that you are incapable of completing your duties, but that is clearly not the case here.

"We want to influence young people to live a healthy lifestyle and be physically active and eat healthy food," said Lillie Shockney, director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Breast Centre. Acknowledging that Dr Benjamin's weight was not "horrific" or "over the top", she added: "I want an image of wellness [as surgeon general] because young people will hear her better if she is practising what we expect her to preach."

(If weight really does govern a medical professional's ability to dispense health advice, how does Lillie Shockney, left, get off talking about Dr. Benjamin? Doesn't SHE also appear to be overweight according to her own standards?)

Marcia Angell, a lecturer at Harvard University Medical School, told ABC News: "At a time when a lot of public health concern is about the national epidemic of obesity, having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people's minds."

A doctor commenting on a medical blog said Dr Benjamin looked obese, with a body mass index of over 30, if not a morbidly obese rate of over 40.

One commentator estimated she would take at least a British size 20 in clothes.

Sarah Reed, another family doctor, who said she kept her own BMI at 19, said: "I am disappointed that Dr Regina Benjamin is obese. Obesity is the number one problem in my own practice and I make it a very high priority to lead by example. Although her credentials speak for themselves, her weight cannot be overlooked. Shame on her!"

Seriously? Is there going to be a weigh-in at her hearing? Is the AMA going to measure her waist and slap her on the wrist for wearing a bad Lane Bryant suit? There are so many myths surrounding weight and health, with the idea that a woman of a certain size cannot be healthy or that she lacks a degree of self control. And yes, I understand that the Surgeon General is all about promoting health, but healthy women come in all shapes and sizes.