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Medical treatment should be available for everyone. As it stands now, there are millions of people without insurance, that cannot get the medical attention they need. Because of the governments standards, they don't qualify for any benefit programs. I know, I am one of these people that are stuck in the middle. Being laid off over a year ago, not physically being able to do most jobs, and denied disability, I sit here without insurance, not knowing if I can get help when I need it. I smoke, and it is an addiction. I have tried several times to quit, unsuccessfully.

They wouldn't deny a drug addict treatment. If a drug addict needed coronary artery bypass surgery, they would see that they got it. If a poor person walked into the hospital, with no insurance, and needed the surgery, they would get it. Most hospitals have signs posted that a person can get treated no matter what their financial or ability to pay status is.

To single out obese people, or smokers and say they shouldn't get surgery is a form of discrimination. Since we are a country that has worked so very hard to break down the walls of discrimination, then why would this even be considered. Some obese people are obese because it is just in their make up. Their parents were obese, their grandparents were obese and their aunts and uncles were obese. Some medical conditions, requiring certain medicines, can actually add to a persons obesity because it slows their system down.

For instance, if a person is on blood pressure medicine, pain medication, anti-depressants, cholesterol medication, certain allergy and asthma medications and some migraine medications, their metabolism is slowed down, causing them to be less active, and more likely to gain weight.

I have dealt with migraines most of my life, and being prescribed some of these medications to try and control them, my weight has fluctuated extremely. Some of them slowed me down so much, that all I could do most of the time was sleep. My metabolism slowed down so much, I was unable to burn off any of the calories I took in. At one time, on one of these medications, I actually gained fifty pounds in less than three months.

It is said that all men are created equal, and that isn't talking about physical make up. It is talking about our rights. We have the right to religious freedoms, the right to voice our opinion, the right to bear arms and so on. If we hold true to this, then it is only right for everyone to be able to get surgery or treatments for what ails them.

A smoker may need a coronary artery bypass surgery, due not to the fact that they smoked during their life, but due to hereditary issues. An obese person could also have hereditary problems, so if we eliminate these two types of people from having this surgery, even though it may not be from their habits, then we are playing God, and saying who can live and who must die.

Learn more about this author, Lorraine Carter.
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