Obesity Case Study

The question of whether the public’s health is an individual’s responsibility or the government’s responsibility has been a sticky topic for quite some time now. In order to get closer to an answer, it is important to evaluate the roles individuals have in protecting and improving their health versus the roles the government has. To better understand the situation, I will discuss the case study of obesity. Is it the individual’s responsibility to exercise in order to avoid being obese or is it firstly the governments responsibility to provide safe environments with parks, for example to improve the individuals’ health? This paper will discuss the causes of obesity, what makes obesity an individual’s responsibility, what makes it the government’s

adults are obese. Additionally, the leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease, which is more often than not tied back to obesity and all of its factors. Knowing the causes of obesity is important to conclude whose responsibility is what. Some of the causes are related to genetics, overeating, people’s diets, and how frequent people eat. Some others are lack of physical activity, lack of necessary medication, and use of certain medication. Obesity can also be caused by psychological factors and social issues. Social issues can be anything from lack of money to purchase health foods to lack of safe places to walk or exercise. All of these causes are what makes it difficult to put the blame on a single

Chan’s definition of obesity (and most definitions), “a condition that is characterized by excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body and that in an adult is typically indicated by a body mass index of 30 or greater”, one could argue that since it is a person’s body, it is their responsibility. There is also the general argument that is often thrown around in conversations of feminism: “right to make decisions about our own health, body, sexuality and reproductive life, without fear, coercion, violence or discrimination” (AmnestyUSA). People choose how they treat their body, so shouldn’t they be able to pay for the damage they do to their body, too? Another argument is that the rest of the population should not have to pay for treatment for someone who has eaten too much and not exercised. That is, it is the individual’s responsibility. One could also say that people should educate themselves on what obesity means and that it is not just caused from overeating. Whether obesity is the individual’s responsibility or not also involves the topic of lack of exercise. The thing is, if there is no place to exercise, weather conditions prohibit exercise, and people need to worry about making a living more than exercise, it becomes a question of how much the government is involved in many exercise possible. The issue of technological advances in most jobs, in most occupations, and in schools also causes lack of exercise. For example, students