Define irony:

One morbidly obese idiot, embarking on a hunger strike, in protest of ACC, refusing to pay, for his gastric bypass surgery.

Jason Patterson weighs 130 kilograms. He claims to have gained the majority of this excess weight after being put on a previous medication. Now he requires surgery for a hernia. ACC is willing to pay for this hernia operation. Understandably though, surgeons are unwilling to anaesthetise such an overweight person…

This in itself is not uncommon – at 130kgs Mr Patterson’s breathing will probably be laboured, he will be horrendously unfit and his heart will be pumping much more blood thus working much harder than it otherwise would. Ultimately his body will be under a great deal more stress than it needs to be; it therefore makes sense that he should first undergo severe weight reduction.

…ACC is not, however, willing to pay for the gastric bypass surgery that has been shown to result in a person’s quick and effective weight-loss, thereby enabling Mr Patterson to undergo his hernia operation for which ACC is willing to pay.

So he’s gone on a hunger strike. Nice one. I am unsure if this ‘protest’ is actually intended to sway ACC’s stance, or if he’s simply hoping that for the, reported, five days he’s already been starving himself, he might be on the way to shedding the excess preventing him from having his hernia operation.

More likely is the prospect that starvation-dieting is the only form of dieting he can manage; he clearly enjoys food and generally speaking, if he’s allowed his body to reach a state where he’s being declined surgery, he won’t have good willpower.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Starr Vey Shinn

Photography by Stu Mack Staple