Doctor apologizes for fat jokes in Outpatient Surgery Magazine column

Doctor apologizes for fat jokes in Outpatient Surgery Magazine column | Poynter..

Too little, too late.  I share -- because my friend Rob from Former Fat Dudes is quoted, and Taunia from DivaTaunia.

University of Pennsylvania orthopedic surgeon John D. Kelly IV says the monthly humor column he writes for a medical trade magazine was due, so he "threw some jokes together" about fat patients.

"You should worry about performing surgery on the supersized," Kelly riffed in that August piece, if "there is a comma in your patient's body weight."

Or if a patient "wears his wristwatch on his finger," needs "a blood pressure cuff the size of Montana," or "has more chins than a Chinese phone book."

And 26 other one-liners, many cribbed from Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, and their ilk.

Thus did Kelly, a respected physician known for his corny stand-up comedy and kind heart, become an object lesson in the pervasive prejudice faced by fat people - and the perils of perpetuating it.

Kelly, 54, has been chewed out by obesity-bias fighters, subscribers of Outpatient Surgery Magazine where the article appeared, and his bosses at Penn, who issued a statement saying his "comments do not in any way reflect" the health system's views.

In response, Kelly has expressed what even critics call "heartfelt" remorse.

Rob Portinga, a gastric-bypass patient who now blogs as FormerFatDudes.com, posted Kelly's mea culpa: "I have issued an apology [in the magazine] and have answered every e-mail I received from this mistake. . . . I blew it. I was not respecting the dignity of my patients. I didn't recognize that this is a different audience than the comedy clubs. Of course, I will revamp my comedy routines now that I know the potential hurt some jokes can inflict."

And, another round of "Ridiculous Comments About Fat People - " as the original article already SHUT DOWN it's comments section because people just suck are mean.