Researchers from Harvard University say inadequate or unskilled parental supervision can leave severely obese children vulnerable to the societal influences that promote an unhealthy lifestyle and are suggesting that this may be a form of child abuse that authorities should act on.
In a commentary posted Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, professor Lindsey Murtagh and Dr. David S. Ludwig suggest that severely obese children be removed from their homes, and that government involvement may be justifiable because of the imminent health risks and the “parents’ chronic failure to address medical problems.”“I can see the authors have good intentions – they want to protect the child – but the suggestions are misguided,” said ethicist Arthur Caplan in a phone conversation. “The problem with this proposal is that it puts the onus solely on the parents. This is not a problem just with individuals, this is a societal issue,” he says.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the past 20 years, obesity has risen dramatically in the United States.
An estimated 17% of children in the U.S. are considered to be obese – which is defined as a child having a body mass index or BMI that is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile for their age and gender. For example, a 10-year-old boy with a BMI of 18 would fall into the fifth percentile and be considered a healthy weight. However a 10-year-old boy with a BMI of 23 would considered obese, because his BMI is greater than the 95th percentile. More...Cnn.com
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