Editorial: Unhealthy health care professionals hypocrites

If your overweight doctor advises you to lose weight, you might raise an eyebrow.

But should health care professionals be expected to uphold the standards they promote?

After all, doctors have a stressful occupation. They work long hours and don’t necessarily have a lot of time to sleep, let alone get to the gym or cook healthy meals. It shouldn’t surprise us that some of them take up smoking.

But we’re not buying it.

Many other positions are just as stressful. This is no excuse.

Unhealthy behaviors don’t make individuals bad doctors, but there is the chance that their patients won’t take them as seriously. For example, why would a patient trust the diet advice provided by an overweight nutritionist?

We can’t help but look at the individuals donning scrubs or white jackets smoking outside UPMC and think that they’re hypocrites. Smoking has negative health consequences, and it’s not necessary to go through medical school to figure that out.

Health care professionals’ body mass index scores and unhealthy lifestyles don’t take away from their talent or the fact that they are serving in an admirable field. But they do hold a position that requires them to either practice what they preach or risk not being taken seriously.

An out-of-shape personal trainer isn’t desirable, and neither is an unhealthy doctor.