Effie,
You beat me to this. I just read the article about Donna Simpson on Czech online news and I was shocked. Warning - the page includes a rather graphic image of Mrs. Simpson:
In my opinion she has a mental illness that is in the same vein as anorexia. She is using food as a mechanism for self-harm.
If she was 90 pounds and wanted to get to 70, they'd section her, put her in a psych hospital and feed her through a tube, because she was endangering herself. How is this any different? This woman should be treated the same, detained in a psychiatric facility and treated for the eating disorder she has that is going to kill her.
Very sad story. I feel particularly sad for the little girl.
If she was 90 pounds and wanted to get to 70, they'd section her, put her in a psych hospital and feed her through a tube, because she was endangering herself.
Actually, probably not. It's not nearly as easy to commit someone against their will as it's often assumed. The risk to self or others has to essentially be imminent.
When I was working in a psych ward, it was notoriously difficult to get and keep anorexics in treatment. Because the moment they were assessed as having no immediate risk, they were discharged. It couldn't just be body weight itself, the person had to have something independently wrong (something that would have been a risk at any weight, such as dangerously low blood pressure, or failing kidneys). Body weight alone wasn't a sufficient criteria.
Most of it has to do with insurance, oddly (or maybe not so oddly) enough. In my experience working in and with hospitals, if you don't have insurance, you're discharged the moment the hospital can justify it (you're not going to die today). If you do have insurance, you're discharged the moment the insurance decides it won't pay anymore (many insurances have very strict guidelines regarding mental health treatment. Again, many times the instant an anorexic person was at a weight that removed the patient from imminent risk of death, insurance stopped paying and the person was discharged immediately).
Getting insurances to commit to a full course of treatment, was like pulling teeth.
Please be advised this is NSFW (not safe for work) as there are some pictures that may be offensive. No nudity, but just something I would definitely not look at on the job.
Also, please be advised the content may also offend some people as it speaks about obesity and other weight issues and mentions an 18+ website.
I could not find which forum this should be on, but this was just too crazy I could not -not- post it. Please move it to the correct forum if need be.
I just don't understand how someone can be like this. I understand that she is making money off of it, and to each their own, but some of the things mentioned in the video are just insane.
- she doesn't believe in diseases linked to obsesity
- she says she hopes her children have good genes so they stay skinny
- she claims she eats healthy food, then talks about buying cake, etc
Well, that is just absolutely insane!! I don't know about anybody else but I'm over 350 and I have a hard time doing things! There just isn't enough money!! I guess eating healthy is no good unless you are gonna exercise and I'm not sure "jiggling" could be considered an exercise!
People like that I think need one of these...
That was just disturbing!! This might sound a little mean but she probably won't have to worry about her kids' genes. Just watching what is happening to their mother should be enough to keep them from living on junk! What good will the money be if she dies? It's sad really!
Actually, probably not. It's not nearly as easy to commit someone against their will as it's often assumed. The risk to self or others has to essentially be imminent.
When I was working in a psych ward, it was notoriously difficult to get and keep anorexics in treatment. Because the moment they were assessed as having no immediate risk, they were discharged. It couldn't just be body weight itself, the person had to have something independently wrong (something that would have been a risk at any weight, such as dangerously low blood pressure, or failing kidneys). Body weight alone wasn't a sufficient criteria.
Most of it has to do with insurance, oddly (or maybe not so oddly) enough. In my experience working in and with hospitals, if you don't have insurance, you're discharged the moment the hospital can justify it (you're not going to die today). If you do have insurance, you're discharged the moment the insurance decides it won't pay anymore (many insurances have very strict guidelines regarding mental health treatment. Again, many times the instant an anorexic person was at a weight that removed the patient from imminent risk of death, insurance stopped paying and the person was discharged immediately).
Getting insurances to commit to a full course of treatment, was like pulling teeth.
Really? I guess I'm coming from the health system where I live (Australia) and assuming that since our two countries are close in a number of demographics that things would work similarly.
That's very sad. So they never get the full course of treatment, basically, because of the insurance companies? How unfortunate. Here it's the psychs who dictate when a person doesn't need inpatient treatment any more, not the insurance companies.
Really? I guess I'm coming from the health system where I live (Australia) and assuming that since our two countries are close in a number of demographics that things would work similarly.
That's very sad. So they never get the full course of treatment, basically, because of the insurance companies? How unfortunate. Here it's the psychs who dictate when a person doesn't need inpatient treatment any more, not the insurance companies.
It's not so dismal that no one gets the full course of treatment, but a patient can only be held against their will for 5 days without a hearing. For the hearing judge to mandate involuntary treatment, the person has to be an immediate threat to themselves "will die eventually" from the consequences of their mental illness isn't generally sufficient grounds. So a 90 lb anorexic (even if he or she wants to weigh 20 lbs) won't generally be admitted if they happen to have no immediate risk of death.
Many people DO get the full course of treatment, although I don't know that I'd say most. It really depends on which insurance a person has, and also the hospital or treatment center in question, and also a LOT to do with whether the person is a willing patient. It's a lot easier to get insurance to pay for a patient who feels he or she does need in-patient treatment, than to get insurance companies to pay for a patient who does not feel in-patient
treatment is necessary.
In my experience, the patients who had the least insurance problems were those that sought treatment willingly, and had family members willing to help them fight the insurance companies if necessary. Insurance companies seemed less likely to fight the necessity of treatment when both the doctor AND the patient are agreeing that treatment is necessary, and are willing to fight the insurance company over it. However, if the patient is not willing, the insurance company is often more willing to refuse to pay.
I was very disillusioned to find that often the psychiatrists recommendations for treatment were so dependent on the person's insurance. If three people had very similar problems, but one person's insurance paid for 30 days, another for 60, and another for 90 - the recommendation was most often "coincidentally" for the exact length of time that the insurance would pay, and not a day longer. The person was "ready" to go home coincidentally when their insurance ran out.
This didn't always happen, but it happened so often to make me very cynical of the system. And there were times when the system worked perfectly, but very rarely in the case of involuntary commitments (except occasionally with children).
There were also times when it did work. The hospital was willing to fight the insurance company, or the patients relative was willing to fight the insurance company - but when you're dealing with an involuntary patient, if they don't think they're really sick - they're not going to fight their insurance to pay for what they say they don't need.
Often it went something like this. The hospital doctor would say the person needs in-patient treatment. The patient would say "no I don't, and I won't cooperate with in-patient treatment." So, the insurance company hires their own doctor to do an eval. They meet with the patient and write their report that in essence recommends out-patient treatment, justifying it (and it sounds logical on the surfact) by saying (truthfully enough) that the patient is unlikely to be cooperative with in-patient treatment, but is amenable to out-patient treatment (of course when asked whether they'll promise to go to out-patient treatment, if that's recommended, they will because they don't want to be in the hospital). This doctor suggests that out-patient will be more effective because of the patient's promised cooperation.
The person may or may not comply with outpatient therapy, and there are usually no consequences unless they're court-ordered to complete therapy (which is unlikely, unless a crime was committed in some way and the judge makes treatment a condition of probation or conditional discharge, something like that).
Often the patient cooperates with out-patient treatment for a while, but gradually stops going.
Holy moly! It made me angry to watch. Because she IS going to die if she carries on. I've had two family members who have died from heart failure linked directly to their obesity! As a mother she should be doing everything within her power to be as healthy as she can to ensure she is around and fit and well to look after and be there for her children for as long as possible
My worst nightmaires are a) loosing my children and b) dying and leaving my children behind alone without a mother... The thought terrifies me and I would never do anything that could so obviously directly lead to my death!
Also, does she still think she's going to be mobile and able to care for her children when she is 1000lbs??? I doubt it. She must know its getting hard to do things just being the weight she already is. And who does she think will end up caring for her? Her children most likely! They won't have lives of their own if they have to care for their obese and immobile mother!
I can understand obesity in terms of you get into it and it's hard to get out of. I can NOT understand TRYING to make yourself extremely obese, and then even more so.
The people who are supporting her and sending her food and stuff are sick. They know she has a family. They are in effect paying to watch her kill herself. They should be ashamed and I'm disgusted there are such people out there.
Just replied to a video about this in another thread. To say, "I'm not harming anyone" is incredibly ignorant. Not only is she harming HERSELF but her poor children will have a horrible life if they end up being carers to her when she looses the ability to look after herself, and eventually when they loose her to the obesity for good.
This is what I replied on the other thread:
Holy moly! It made me angry to watch. Because she IS going to die if she carries on. I've had two family members who have died from heart failure linked directly to their obesity! As a mother she should be doing everything within her power to be as healthy as she can to ensure she is around and fit and well to look after and be there for her children for as long as possible
My worst nightmaires are a) loosing my children and b) dying and leaving my children behind alone without a mother... The thought terrifies me and I would never do anything that could so obviously directly lead to my death!
Also, does she still think she's going to be mobile and able to care for her children when she is 1000lbs??? I doubt it. She must know its getting hard to do things just being the weight she already is. And who does she think will end up caring for her? Her children most likely! They won't have lives of their own if they have to care for their obese and immobile mother!
I can understand obesity in terms of you get into it and it's hard to get out of. I can NOT understand TRYING to make yourself extremely obese, and then even more so.
The people who are supporting her and sending her food and stuff are sick. They know she has a family. They are in effect paying to watch her kill herself. They should be ashamed and I'm disgusted there are such people out there.
!!!
