Nurse, I Need a Big Mac, Stat!

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Nurse, I Need a Big Mac, Stat!

Survey finds leading hospitals now offer fast food

 

By Adam Marcus

HealthScoutNews Reporter

 

TUESDAY, June 11 (HealthScoutNews) -- Would you like fries with that bypass?

Not that you should, but at many hospitals you could, according to a new study

finding that a sizeable chunk of the nation's most highly regarded medical

centers have fast food outlets on site.

That doesn't necessarily mean patients eat at these restaurants, because many

patients are on restricted diets. But the presence of fast food in the very

places that stress its dangers -- and often treat the consequences of its

excesses -- is alarming, the researchers said.

" Hospitals need to be aware of the potential hypocrisy with what we're doing, "

said Dr. Peter Cram, a fellow at the University of Michigan and lead author of

the study. " The research side says Americans are obese, have diabetes and heart

disease related to the Western diet that's heavy in red meat and fat. "

But by having such fare readily available in hospitals, he adds, " we're making

it easier for people to eat these foods. "

The study appears as a research letter in tomorrow's issue of the Journal of the

American Medical Association.

Cram and his colleagues surveyed 16 hospitals named in U.S. News & World

Report's 2001 " America's Best Hospitals " roundup.

Six of the hospitals (38 percent) reported having a fast food franchise on the

grounds of their main medical facility. While the study did not name any of the

hospitals, they do include Cram's own institution: The University of Michigan's

Medical Center in Ann Arbor, which has a Wendy's outlet. Four of the six had two

chains. A seventh hospital said it had a franchise but terminated the contract,

only to open its own eatery with a similar menu.

To be sure, Cram said, most of the patrons of these restaurants are clinic

employees, visitors and family members of patients -- not the patients

themselves. But he said he and his colleagues have noticed fast food bags in the

hands of people sitting in clinic waiting rooms and wandering the halls in

hospital gowns.

" It may be that they are not suffering from any diseases or conditions that fast

food is harmful for. It may be that the people with diabetes and heart disease

don't go. But that's expecting a lot, " he said.

Rick Wade, a spokesman for the American Hospital Association, said his group

" would hope that hospitals would think through the perception implications of

these things. "

But, he added, " the problem with obesity is not that fast food restaurants

exist. It's the choices people make " when they order and eat.

Food franchises are becoming more common as hospitals renovate aging physical

plants and search for new streams of revenue, Wade said. However, he added,

they're far more prevalent in large urban medical centers than in smaller

hospitals, and the percentage nationally with fast food chains is " much less "

than 38 percent.

Gary Stephenson, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, whose

medical center topped the magazine's " honor roll " list, said patient demand

prompted the hospital to contract with a Subway franchise and a Chinese

restaurant.

" Each individual can choose the meal he or she wants, " he said.

Bill Whitman, a spokesman for McDonald's Corp., in Oakbrook, Ill., said the

chain has " a number " of restaurants in American hospitals, but he couldn't say

how many.

He also disputed the notion that fast food is unhealthful. " The uninformed may

come to that false premise. But the reality is all food can fit into a balanced

diet. I certainly think that includes McDonald's, " Whitehead said.

But Cram noted that the pairing of fast food chains with hospitals strikes an

odd chord. And it does so at a time when hospitals are trying to increasingly

present themselves as " medical centers " that promote overall patient welfare and

the health of the communities they serve, he said.

A similar thing happened in the 1980s, when hospitals had to decide whether to

allow smoking, the JAMA letter said.

" Ultimately, hospitals decided that the benefit of allowing individuals the

freedom to smoke was outweighed by their responsibility for advocating health

promotion, " it said.

What To Do

For more on how to eat a healthful diet, try the American Dietetic Association

or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And if you're interested to see whether your medical center is on the honor

roll, here is the U.S. News & World Report's best hospitals list.

 

 

 

2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: Peter Cram, M.D., research fellow, University of Michigan Medical

School, Ann Arbor; Rick Wade, spokesman, American Hospital Association,

Washington, D.C.; Gary Stephenson, spokesman, Johns Hopkins Medical

Institutions, Baltimore; Bill Whitman, spokesman, McDonald's Corp., Oakbrook,

Ill.; June 12, 2002, Journal of the American Medical Association

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