Childhood Obesity Ethical Issues

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States, claiming about 17% of children and adolescents in the United States, which is about 12.7 million children (CDC, 2017). Childhood obesity is determined by using the children’s Body Mass Index, or BMI. When children are in or above the 95th percentile, they are considered to be in the obesity category (McKinney et al, pg 159, 2013). With the increase of childhood obesity in the United States, there then comes a greater risk for the children to develop many health complications (Burca, 2017). This can cause the children to become a patient some day.

The main questions that come out of all the statistics with childhood obesity is who to blame, and how we can make a difference to decrease the

One way to fail paternalism is that the parents are not asking for assistance when they see that their children may be becoming obese or less active, and they might need some guidance. Another way is not the parent’s fault, but a nurse or health care provider may not provide any information to the parents that could help their child live a healthy lifestyle. If the health care provider does not provide information to help the patient get better, then this issue could also conflict with failing to perform the ethical principal of beneficence. The health care provider should start by providing pamphlets or brochures that can adequately and understandably relay information about living a better, more active lifestyle for the entire family. The health care provider should assess with the parents what changes could and should be made and what is being done for interventions that are already in place to help prevent childhood obesity. The other part to paternalism is that the parents need to make an effort to seek help and be willing to listen to the information that is given to them. The health care provider can give the information to the parents, but they cannot do much from there. There is a limit for the health care provider when it comes to children at home, so it is pivotal that the parents follow the instructions and accept the information on how to properly handle the lifestyles of their children

Children who are obese at a younger age are more likely to stay obese through adulthood, which could cause many complications with their own body (World Health Organization, 2017). If both children’s parents are obese then the child will be 10 to 12 times more likely to be obese (Fuemmeler, 2013). This makes it evident that childhood obesity is a domino effect with the child being obese and staying obese through adulthood, they can then pass their habits, lifestyle, and the obesity disease to their own children. The number one thing that can be done to break the domino effect is prevention by education and by being committed to a healthy lifestyle. There will always be place for nurses in this world because people tend to not do what their supposed to do in terms of their lifestyles. If parents had the mindset of doing what is best for their child, then children would not become a patient at a young age due to their something that is preventable. Childhood obesity is 100% preventable, so that means there should not be an ethical dilemma on whether or not the parents are at fault for their children’s obesity problem. If this happened, childhood obesity would be observed at a much lower rate then it is