'You're going on a f****** diet': What surgeon told obese woman who said she preferred the word 'lifestyle'



The surgeon was reprimanded for his foul language (file picture)



A New Zealand surgeon has been reprimanded for telling a severely obese patient she was ‘going on a f***ing diet’.

The surgeon, known as ‘Dr B’, used the work ‘f***’ at least three times after the woman told him she did not like the word ‘diet’.

She preferred the term ‘lifestyle’, the New Zealand Herald reported.

After she complained about his language, he wrote to her, claiming they no longer had a ‘therapeutic relationship’.

He then punished her by removing her from his waiting list for gastric bypass surgery.

The doctor admitted using bad language and was asked to attend a communication skills course by New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner, Ron Paterson.

He added the surgeon’s conduct had been insulting and unprofessional.

The 44-year-old Maori woman, who works full-time and reportedly swims three times a week had repeatedly failed at dieting, quickly regaining weight after relapsing.

In her letter of complaint she wrote: ‘[The doctor] said if I couldn’t handle the word diet then he challenged my motivation and stated that I would never survive surgery because I was still b********ing myself and therefore my thinking was still f***ed.’