Community Chat

[Kachina624]

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@IMW wrote:

It is possible that Sandy and daughter benefited from

all the social services----- day and night care, equipment allowances etc. We the taxpayers are footing the costs---- ambulances, rehabs, therapists etc. 

Cindy didn't seem very committed in the first place.

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@IMW.  Bingo!  All of Dr. Now's patients seem to be low income Medicaid recipients.  He makes a living off of them as do all their caretakers and service providers.

[Growing]

Many of the people on this show are enabled by their friends and family members in helping them get access to foods not on their Dr Now provided diet plan. Nobody says no but sometimes the friends and family admit they are barraged by the patient with constant demands for certain foods and a huge argument occurs if they say no. Many of us go along to get along in order to create peace. You'll see Dr Now tells the camera how the family is enabling the food addict but it's rare they show on camera him telling the family to stop. In the early days, he would fuss at the family about not enabling. 

[GenXmuse]

Granted, I don't watch this show, but do any of these people get better as a result of being on it? 

[jcash]

A lot of people that don't like these shows are self absorbed and prejudice toward overweight people and feel they are better.

[violann]

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@Growing wrote:

Many of the people on this show are enabled by their friends and family members in helping them get access to foods not on their Dr Now provided diet plan. Nobody says no but sometimes the friends and family admit they are barraged by the patient with constant demands for certain foods and a huge argument occurs if they say no. Many of us go along to get along in order to create peace. You'll see Dr Now tells the camera how the family is enabling the food addict but it's rare they show on camera him telling the family to stop. In the early days, he would fuss at the family about not enabling. 

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A "HUGE ARGUMENT" cannot occur without TWO participants.

[Suziepeach]

I remember when Dr. Now told a patient that would be so ugly to their care giver for NOT bringing them what they want- Dr. Now said, "What are you going to do, finally get out of the bed and get it yourself?"  Sure shut her going on and on up.  She was one of the ones that had to stay in bed with her legs spread apart like a split.

[CalminHeart]

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@Porcelain wrote:

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@hckynut wrote:

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@Porcelain wrote:

I think those shows are exploitative. Yuck.

@Porcelain 

In what way? Treating who unfairly, and to gain what advantage, and the benefit to whom?  

hckynut 

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This kind of show is about gawking at and gossiping about people who have serious issues. And the Discovery corporation benefits financially by creating the shows.

The old tyme "Freak Shows" of the past are almost extinct, for good reason. My 600 Pound Life and "I didn't know I was pregnant!" and "My Strange Addiction" and "Hoarders" and "Gigantic pimples to pop" and "The Biggest Loser" and  "Botched plastic surgery" shows have taken their place.

It's not wrong to watch these shows. I just find it personally distasteful. While I am glad the people on the shows are receiving assistance, I think they should have had access to that level of assistance without having to serve as entertainment on a cable network.

I find it an indictment of our social and medical systems that some folks have reason to think their only hope to overcome serious, life threatening issues is to apply to a Discovery reality show and hope they are chosen to receive help.

Think about all the people who have applied to this show and gotten turned down because Discovery didn't find their personalities interesting enough to select them. What happened to them? If we don't care, we can't say we actually care about the people who do make it onto the show.

And: "In 2018 several news outlets reported that several former patients of Dr. Nowzardan who appeared on the series, and the family of one patient, LB Bonner, who committed suicide, had brought suit against the show's production company, Megalomedia, alleging negligence and claiming that the company failed to cover medical costs"

Edited to add: And TLC (the learning channel? not anymore!) and Lifetime and all the other similar channels that show this content.

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I completely agree.  And it's clear people can't watch without judging. Judgmental people are the last thing someone needs to take a step in the right direction for any reason.

I was 100 pounds overweight. I lost 80 and I blame covid for gaining 11 last year.  My clothes still fit fine but are just a bit tighter in the waist and thighs.  I'm working on those 11 now.   

Believe me, looking at losing 11 pounds is not anything close to the same as looking at losing 100 pounds.