For thinking this surgeon was a bit out of order? OK, I know I'm overweight but...

[trickynicky]

Not sure if I'm being oversensitive here but I was in hospital over the weekend passing a gallbladder - terrible pain. On the ward round on the following morning, Mr Bigshot, the Consultant Surgeon came round with his minions (4/5 student doctors). He examined my stomach, prodded and poked and then stated I needed to have the gallbladder removed. He then looked at my table upon which was half a piece of toast I'd eaten for breakfast and an open mini packet of butter half opened. He then ceremoniously picked up the butter and said "well, you don't want to be eating that if you have gallbladder issues - it's fat" and then he pinched a piec of my stomach and said "you've got enough here"!! I was somewhat taken aback and just mumbled "I know".... he then obviousy thought better of what he said and said "I didn't mean to insult you"........smiled, and then wondered off.....

On reflection, I am mortified. Actually, he's totally right. I am quite a bit overweight - I do KNOW that.... but wasn't this just a little bit insensitive, unprofessional etc etc or am I being over dramatic?

[KillerRack]

Anyone who works in care knows care value base etc, treating patients with respect, dignity etc is a large part of the job.

If he is going out of his way to be rude i.e pinching stomach , trying to embarrass you in front of med students then he really isn't being professional at all. Its not a case of 'being over-sensitive,.

[TooImmatureTurtleDoves]

So? If you are intelligent enough to be a great surgeon then you are probably capable of remembering a few ground rules when dealing with patients.

Number 1: No pinching patients
Number 2: Engage brain before mouth

This surgeon clearly knew that he was in the wrong because he backtracked, so it is possible for them to learn. But, like with small children, you have to keep repeating the lesson - and so I would tell PALs. Pinching people is not on. It was not a fat caliper test, because it was conducted in a highly unprofessional manner. If he wanted to do a fat caliper test he should have explained clearly what he was going to do before he did it, and not made rude comments.

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

Can I just say in defence of DH, he is lovely and also highly skilled at operating

[Latara]

I work with Consultant Surgeons... they remind me of IT Technicians / Computer Programmers. Good at fixing stuff; not so good with communication.

As a general rule i find that the rudeness level of Surgeons is higher if they are highly skilled in their Speciality
The best Surgeon i know has the tact of Prince Philip.

You would be safe under the scalpel of Mr Rude.

(good luck with your Gallbladder problems though; hopefully it will get sorted & not be too painful).

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

That same consultant died a little bit inside when DH said we were going to do our shopping after work at Asda

Thank goodness he didn't find out about the time DH ate a Pot Noodle

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Abdominal fat is known to be the most dangerous.

Maybe he wasn't pinching, maybe he was roughly assessing her level of body fat, in lieu of doing it more accurately with calipers?

[squoosh]

Oh TGI Fridays would have been considered trés déclassé. He should have been drummed out of the profession!

[OhGood]

You could go on diet.

He will always be a tactless arse.

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

yes he is!

When we had our first date he was a reg and his consultant was horrified that he took me to TGI Fridays.

[squoosh]

Is your dh the Muffin Man? Mean Pinchy surgeon certainly wouldn't approve of Muffin Man surgeon.

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

My DH is a surgeon and he is lovely, in fact during his training he was frequently told to be less nice, this is why I married him. When I was working I met some massive twunts though.

[squoosh]

Nope, she's my evil step sister. Or I'm her evil step sister. I forget which.

[porcamiseria]

how upsetting

but aswith smoking,drugs, boose I do think the medical profession do need to be open and frank on such issues tbh

[harvestvestibule]

I'm confused. Squoosh are you the same person as Swoosh??

[LadyMargolotta]

squoosh that is so true. It makes people run away, and no wonder.

I am shocked at all the posters who are defending this god like consultant. No wonder consultants have been able to get away with atrocious behaviour for so long.

[squoosh]

telling people the harsh reality in such a mean way will only encourage people to look for a bit of comfort in the fridge/biscuit tin/McDonalds.

[harvestvestibule]

'Sometimes it's the harsh reality that drives it into people unfortunately'
really? humiliating overweight people is a good way to get them to lose weight? Let me guess you're not fat swoosh?

[MousyMouse]

oops, wrong thread. sorry

[MousyMouse]

have asked why last weeks episode is not on their site...

[swooosh]

Sometimes it's the harsh reality that drives it into people unfortunately. Surgeons are also not people people, hence why they like their patients asleep

Hope you are feeling better

[swooosh]

Sometimes it's the harsh reality that drives it into people unfortunately. Surgeons are also not people people, hence why they like their patients asleep

Hope you are feeling better

[monsterchild]

I'm actually more surprised that he seemed to have some dim idea that he'd been a twat about it!

Most -not all!- of the surgeons I've met wouldn't have said that last bit about insulting you.

Anna1976 Infectious disease is where I would have gone had I not gotten into law school first, my mistake.

[cocodoc]

It was rude of him to pinch you and there's no excuse for that.
Please don't use it as an excuse not to take care of your health and really go for the weight loss. You could have had toast without butter and should have known already that butter would make your condition worse.
I know from my own experience that being overweight is in part due to self esteem issues and tactlessness won't help you BUT you must see the surgeon as just a surgeon (and a bit of a dickhead- his problem not yours). He has now done his bit. It's time to get your life back. Draw a line under the whole thing and stick with your low fat diet (rosemary connelly is good, I think she had gallstones too).
Do this because you deserve to be healthy, forget about the surgeon.
If you need a mental boost just look at all these replies- everyone here is cheering you on. Good luck.

[Anna1976]

i need to learn to use strikethrough obviously