Eating Ourselves to Death

This week Reuters is reporting that more and more Americans are unable to have x-rays, ct-scans, MRI's, and other scans at medical facilities. The reason for this is not due to faulty equipment or risk of radiation, but rather because they are too fat to get proper results. Patients are either too big to fit into machines, onto tables, or too dense to get proper ultrasound readings. This poses a major problem for both doctors and patients. Doctors worry that they will be unable to find possible tumors, blood clots, diseased organs, broken limbs, and a host of other medical issues. According to the study by the Journal of Radiology .15 % of Americans are too obese for these procedures, and while this figure doesn't seem all that high it has doubled in the last 15 years, and will only continue to grow. Some companies are such as Siemens are starting too manufacture larger machines to accommodate the rise in obesity. The problem is that these machines are too costly for most facilities to afford, and can only be bought by the larger facilities in the country. Chalk this up to another tax burden for all of us because so many of us can't stop stuffing our faces with fatty foods while sitting on the couch. We wonder why the cost of health care and insurance is so outrageous, but in all reality we are doing it to ourselves. Put down the double cheeseburger and go for a bike ride people.