Obese people should get the same treatment as cancer patients

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‘Obesity should be treated like cancer'

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Last week, it was revealed the UK’s fattest man and woman have cost the taxpayer a combined £650,000 – outraging hard-working families.

Bed-bound Keith Martin, 42, weighs a huge 58st and needs 18 health workers to look after him, while 40st Brenda Flanagan-Davies, 43, has a team of carers who devote 25 hours a week to helping her wash and dress.

Keith hasn’t been outside for 10 years, except for expensive hospital trips – which require eight ambulance staff to hoist him into a reinforced vehicle – and has cost the NHS £358,000.

Brenda’s been house-bound for four years – and has cost the taxpayer £83,200. The pair have also received a massive £200,000 in benefits over the years.

Shockingly, the pair still gorge on hotdogs and chocolate and claim their enormous bulk is the result of a food addiction. And they both insist they deserve help from taxpayers – who pay towards the £4.2billon a year the NHS spends on treating obesity- related illnesses and operations.

Keith, from north London, said: “Some people need help. Smokers get help and rock climbers get help if they get injured. Some people have bigger problems than others.”

Brenda, of Tyne and Wear, added: “It terrifies me that I can’t stop [eating]. Doctors warned me, but I just can’t stop. Food is an addiction I can’t fight.”

One person who understands their uncontrollable desire to binge-eat is Barry Austin, 43 – who was given the title of “Britain’s fattest man” in 2009.

At his heaviest, 5ft 11 Barry, from Birmingham, weighed a colossal 65st. Incredibly, he would drink 40 pints of beer a night and gorge on nine curries.

Controversially, Barry, who would eat a staggering 30,000 calories a day, believes morbidly obese people should be given the same level of care as cancer sufferers and anorexics.

“It is not something these people choose to do,” he insists. “It’s unfair to deny people help. Morbidly obese people should have carers to help them.

“People who smoke and get cancer have Macmillan nurses and medical help – and their illness is a result of an addiction. Overeating is an addiction too, so why shouldn’t sufferers be allowed the same level of care?

“I’ve seen many psychologists and they’ve all said the same thing – overeating, drinking and drug abuse are all addictions.”

Barry, who’d had an active life after joining the army cadets as a youngster, admits his bingeing was out of control by the time he was 16. He says: “I loved food. I’d have dinner at home, then have another at a friend’s house. I used to drink 12 litres of Coke a day. I thought I was invincible, but now I have no quality of life.”

Barry gradually put on weight, until he reached 65st in 1999. He was told by doctors that he could die if he didn’t slim down. The news shocked him into dieting down to 45st, however, he’s still house-bound as his legs are rotting because of bad circulation caused by his obesity. He says: “I eat chicken, fish and vegetables now but, when my legs get bad, I can’t move and the weight piles on again.”

The former cab driver can no longer work and lives on disability benefits. He gets regular infections and bouts of blood poisoning, suffers from type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure and has to take a cocktail of drugs to keep him alive.

“People say I brought it on myself and I agree,” he says. “But obesity’s an illness, like anorexia. No one would say an anorexic doesn’t deserve to be looked after, however, people look at fat people and say it’s our fault because we’re greedy and lazy, but it’s an illness and should be treated as such.”

Anne Hassan agrees. She is the mother of Sharon Mevsimler who, at 45st, was once the UK’s fattest woman, but died of heart failure aged 41 in 2010, after having a £10,000 gastric band on the NHS. She suffered infections and found it difficult to eat anything after her op. Anne says: “She starved to death in the end.”

Mum-of-four Sharon was eating up to 12,000 calories a day, but the NHS paid for her to attend the £5,000-a-week Priory Hospital in London to help her lose weight. For two years she had two carers looking after her, but Anne, 62, doesn’t think the NHS did enough for Sharon.

She says: “People thought Sharon was a big, fat woman eating herself to death – but it was an addiction. Fat people should get help, if they can’t help themselves. The taxpayer should pay for carers and treatment in some cases.”

Professor in Health Psychology, Doctor Jane Ogden, says: “Eating is not always about being hungry. People eat when they’re fed-up, bored, during relationship breakdowns or periods of grief.

“Overweight people have learnt food makes them feel better when they’re feeling rubbish and, if they get bored, they turn to food. But I don’t like the word ‘addiction’ – it takes away an individual’s responsibility and lets them off the hook. We’d all like to do lots of things we shouldn’t, but we have to control our desires. If people feel addicted, they need to manage that addiction.”

By Jocelyn Cook