Jerry Fahrni

This has nothing to do with pharmacy informatics or technology, but sometimes I run across something that is so ridiculous that I feel compelled to comment.
The New York Times: Delos M. Cosgrove, the heart surgeon who is the Cleveland Clinic’s chief executive. …says that “if it were up to him, if there weren’t legal issues, he would not only stop hiring smokers. He would also stop hiring obese people. When he mentioned this to me [David Leonhardt] during a recent phone conversation, I told him that I thought many people might consider it unfair. He was unapologetic. “Why is it unfair?” he asked. “Has anyone ever shown the law of conservation of matter doesn’t apply?” People’s weight is a reflection of how much they eat and how active they are.“ – I’ve met people like Mr. Cosgrove (I refuse to use the alternate title) before, it’s never pleasant. I am considered obese at 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighting in at nearly three bills. My weight comes from years and years of playing football and power lifting, which I don’t do anymore. I spent a lot of time on the football field where my size was praised because I could push people around and do my job. I’ve handled iron in the weight room that would make people like Mr. Cosgrove shy away with embarrassment. Like many people I get a yearly physical, and my primary physician always tells me I’m in perfect health; heart, lungs, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

Mr. Cosgrove, I’ve also served my country in the US military with this obese frame. I always qualified well with my rifle and met every physical fitness standard that was asked of me. I can guarantee you one thing: if you went down on a battle field somewhere and needed someone to carry you out, you would want that person to be me because I have the size, strength and stamina to haul your butt up and over a hill.

In keeping with Mr. Cosgrove’s logic, perhaps we should stop hiring people with a history of cancer or begin excluding people from employment only after we confirm their future health status with genetic testing. After all, they might put a strain on the economy.

I’m an intelligent, well educated man, Mr. Cosgrove and I have something to contribute to society and my profession regardless of my weight. What you propose is preposterous and something I would never expect from an “educated” man such as yourself. If this is what the Cleveland Clinic’s brain trust has to offer, then I want no part of it. Good luck with your quest for utopia, Mr. Cosgrove, I hope you never find it.