Here’s an article I read today; the last line is priceless.
Fat people = big problems for hospitals
Jul. 27, 2006. 01:46 PM
Hospitals are struggling with ways to diagnose a growing number of obese patients who are too overweight to fit in X-ray scanners.
A new study, published in the August issue of Radiology, has found that some patients who are more than 350 pounds are too large to fit into the scanner.
Even if a scan is taken, the study found that radiologists are having difficulty reading the X-rays because the fat tissue is too dense.
Raul Uppot, radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and author of the study, says the quality can be so poor that doctors could miss small tumours.
With obesity on the rise, Uppot says it’s an issue that hospitals have to address by replacing older equipment.
One hospital in Hamilton said that some larger patients have had to be sent to veterinary facilities to be X-rayed.