We already know that many mental illnesses are chemical imbalances (depression, anyone?) and we put people away for them if the case is severe enough. I suspect that we will soon find that nearly every mental disorder has some [neurotranmitter] or receptor component.
[Martin Niemölle]
First they came after the donut eaters, but I avoid Krispy Kream, so I said nothing. Then they came for the fast food junkies, but I don’t eat at McDonalds, so I did nothing. Then when they came for the beer drinkers, and I told em to back the fuck off.
[/Martin Niemölle]
(emphasis mine)
If a person’s course is going to kill him, then you try to stop them. With the holistic healing, the cancer is going to kill them, not the diluted extract of fairy sweat. You could say, not getting ‘real’ treatment is what is going to kill but since a doctor would say something like the real treatment only has X% chance of working, then the treatment can’t be seen as the absoulte course.
Now I do see your point. That the State is not our parent. That people should be able to do what they want and live their lives the way they want. But this guy probably isn’t living his life the way he really wants.
I am absolutely RABID about any attempt to control me. Nonetheless, if involuntary commitment were likely to free me from my morbid obesity, I would kiss the hand of the person that approved it.
IF he has Prader-Willi then yes, he is in danger of eating himself to death. It is a genetic defect that causes insaitiable hunger and adds the extra insult of a slower-than-normal metabolism. The only treatment is behavioral training and padlocks on food storage.
While it normally also causes mental retardation we’re not talking drooling-in-a-corner idiocy here, nor are we talking freakish shortness. The effects vary somewhat from person to person, and if the person with the disorder is in a supportive environment they may not look retarded in the stereotypical sense, can carry on coherent conversations, and so forth. It’s really hard to bring them down to a normal weight, but they needn’t be “zepplin sized”, as another poster put it. Granted, this is mostly based from seeing actual, diagnosed Prader-Willi sufferers on morning talk shows, but hey, they were chubby-to-fat, not grotesque, and seemed to communicate adequately for their age groups in normal conversation that didn’t touch on super intellectual matters.
Do I think he has Prader-Willi? Damifino. No way to tell from that article. Could very likely be some other dysfunctional situation. In fact, it’s more likely. But if he and his mother are claiming Prader-Willi then they can simply test for it and settle the matter for good. In which case you have some other hokey-pokey going on.
Clearly, the article is not the WHOLE story.
Keep also in mind the UK has universal medical care. I don’t really care what people do with themselves but when it costs me money, it’s my business.
Like seat belts and helmets. People will bitch about “it’s my body let me do whatever” but that’s hardly right in places like Canada or Britian where we pay for dumb mistakes.
From right-wing to left:
The Telegraph
Financial Times (obviously specialist)
The Times
The Independent
The Guardian
Daily Mail + Daily Express are OK, though you won’t find any depth to their stories.
‘National Enquirer’ leanings:
Sun
Mirror
Bonkers:
Sport
But we don’t know there’s nothing wrong with him. All we have is one one-sided article that paints a very sympathetic portrait. The Sun article also didn’t go into detail on the documentary. For all we (and other Sun readers) know, he confessed to other self-destructive behavior. Maybe he admitted that he steals food. But we don’t know these things for sure.
So, let’s withhold judgment until all the facts are in.
Robin
The facts are in! He’s the Frito Bandito.
Maybe we should also lock up heavy smokers and problem drinkers.
Well, er, I know this is the Sun and all, but it couldn’t hurt to remove him from the table full of confections in that second picture. Just sayin’.
This bears repeating. I see no reason to doubt that he has Prader-Willi, in which case he will never feel full, and will literally eat until he dies, which he will very likely do if his caretakers don’t limit his access to food. If his family isn’t keeping food from him, then this situation is no different than the state committing a psychotic schizophrenic who is compulsively injuring himself, and who is not receiving adequate care from his caretakers.
At the risk of stating the bleedin’ obvious…
Here is a list of people who think he’s physically ill: Him. His Mum.
Here is a list of people who think he is in serious need of psychiatric help:
Two doctors. A specialist mental health worker. The registrar at the hospital and the clinical team that are treating him.
I’m sure his mum’s a lovely woman - but I’ll take the word of the other lot first.
In Prader-Willi (which is an abnormality of an area on chromosome 15) there is a chemical imbalance. It’s a deficiency of Leptin, the hormone which controls feelings of satiety and hunger. Unfortunately we don’t have a way to treat that deficiency. Sufferers are ravenously hungry, all the time. Even after eating amounts of food that would have a normal person throwing up, they will still want more.
It’s not poor self-control, it’s NO control. Most of them don’t lead independent lives, not because they’re too intellectually disabled, but because someone has to constantly monitor their access to food.
The learning disability can range from moderate to mild, most people would have an IQ between 60 and 90, but may have specific learning disabilities in areas of abstract though, reading, writing or number skills.
If he wasn’t sticking to his extremely low calorie diet, and was being aided in this by his carers, I don’t really see what other option the state had. As an adult they can’t take him into care, and if he’s intellectually not very disabled he is probably considered competant to make his own medical decisions.
He was probably taken in under the 48hour section for assessment, in order to determine whether he is in fact competant, and whether he will be able to continue his diet in his current situation. If he refused to come in voluntarily, or his doctors believed he would refuse if asked, then the section was justifiable, as it was acting in his best interests.
On a side note, owlstretchingtime, I’m not sure of you’re aware of this, but “knacker” is a term of racist abuse applied to the Irish travelling community.
Best not to use it.
It just means “man” (or bollock) this side of the Irish sea. (we have other terms for Travellers, but “knacker” isn’t one of them.)
The Sun article is a classic example of appealing to it’s demographic as well as following Rupert Mrudoch’s crusade against Labour.
It will simultaniously appeal to the White Van Man readership who can snigger at the attitude and go “Look at fattie!!” while at the same time go “Government is getting out of control! It’s all Labour’s fault!”
This isn’t comparible to smoking and drinkers. It’s easier (but by no means easy) to attempt to quit smoking or drinking, but you can’t quit Prader Willi syndrome.
Sound like you’re a bit out of touch with the sun here - It’s a stauchly labour (specifically “new” labour) supporting paper these days and has been for a while.
In any case it’s hard enough to get someone who WANTS to go into a psychiatric hospital a bed - so I’d be amazed if there wasn’t more to this than him just being vast.
IIRC (The Times) Social Services have been working with this family for three years and this is the last resort. They’ve called on powers normally reserved to “detain mentally ill people who might harm themselves or others”. The family reckon he was taken without warning but the services respond “Close relatives are consulted before the application is made…”
IMO - get him into a controlled environment and see what you can do to help. He has potential to eat so much he drops dead. Oh, and why am I not surprised he’s going to sue…? Thats rhetorical btw.
His names Leppard which reminds me of a seal, although a different species of seal.