http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22621421-2,00.html
A BISHOP who has dedicated his life to the church has been refused surgery by a Victorian hospital because he is too fat.
Bishop R.J. Gow of St Mary's House of Prayer, at Elaine, west of Ballarat, is in desperate need of a left knee replacement.
"It's my praying knee," the good humoured priest said.
"I'm having a lot of trouble walking and standing at the altar."
Three months ago the clergyman, 66, was referred to an orthopedic surgeon.
"The surgeon said the waiting list at Ballarat Hospital for that surgery was two years, but he was now doing surgery at Bacchus Marsh hospital so to go there," Bishop Gow said.
"I made an appointment, but within five minutes of them seeing me they said "unless you lose weight you won't be having surgery here".
Bishop Gow, who stands six feet tall, weighed 147kg.
Since that first appointment he lost 15kg in 11 weeks and is now 132kg.
"They told me to lose 17 kilos before I came back," he said.
"But when I came back they told me I'd have to lose another five before I see the anaesthetist on October 26.
"The only way I can do that is to starve myself."
Bishop Gow said he was annoyed at the level of discrimination towards overweight people.
"This is a hospital discriminating against people who are overweight," he said.
"They're excluding people and I'm not the only one.
"I heard them saying to the person in front of me that they would also have to lose weight before an operation.
"I questioned her about it and she said it was hospital policy.
"She showed me a copy of minutes of a meeting where it was stated they would only operate on patients who had a BMI (body mass index) of below 40.
"This is discriminatory. Obesity is a disease caused by pyschological or physical factors - people don't get fat because they want to.
"But what really annoyed me was I had a look around the hospital and there were empty beds.
"What's happening with our health care?"
Bishop Gow, who has spent more than 20 years working with the poor, sick and disadvantaged, said his knee was deteriorating and he was in a lot of pain.
"But I haven't private health insurance and the operation would cost thousands of dollars," he said.
Bacchus Marsh Hospital's Acting CEO David Grace said the hospital had a policy on surgery for the obese "for patient safety".
"We use an objective BMI assessment," he said.
"If someone is higher than the cut-off point of 40 they're considered a high anaesthetic risk and we wouldn't allow treatment."
He would not comment on a specific case, but said he didn't consider the practice discriminatory.
"It's about patient safety," he said.
This sort of crap needs to end..
