Doctor Suggests That ‘South Park: The End of Obesity’ Should Be Required Viewing in Medical School
Most reasonable people likely wouldn’t take medical advice from South Park, a show that regularly features an anthropomorphic talking towel, has portrayed the human digestive system as an epic fantasyland for gerbil quests and once implied that the human body can survive for several seconds with a baked potato in place of a human heart before exploding.
But there may be some medical value to the show after all, thanks to the recent 50-minute — definitely not an “episode” — special South Park: The End of Obesity.
After earning a low-key endorsement from Lizzo, whose body positivity is marketed as a low-cost alternative to Ozempic, now an actual honest-to-goodness doctor has suggested that the show may hold some value for prospective medical practitioners.
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In a recent op-ed for the medical news site Medscape, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, “Canada's most outspoken obesity expert,” suggests that South Park: The End of Obesity is remarkably accurate in its depiction of a serious issue. For example, the opening scene, in which Cartman and his mother visit their family doctor to ask questions about obesity and health, is representative of responsible medical discourse, minus the prescription for Lizzo. “Cartman’s doctor doesn’t spend time doubting or cajoling,” Freedhoff argues. “Instead, he does his job – which is to inform his patient, without judgment, about a pharmaceutical option that has been proven to be beneficial.”
The special is mostly a takedown of the American health-care system, portrayed here as a soul-crushing, M.C. Escher-like hellscape.
Cartman is ultimately forced to “turn to compounding,” a real-life practice where “compounding pharmacies claim to be able to provide glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogs with comparable efficacy at a fraction of the price,” but “without the same rigor of proof of purity or efficacy.”
Again, this is a real trend, all due to the affordability of a drug that can reportedly “be manufactured for less than $5 a month.”
As Freedhoff argues, South Park “covers obesity and its treatment with more accuracy, nuance and compassion than does society as a whole,” illustrating “that obesity is a biological condition” that demands more cultural sensitivity.
To its credit, South Park shines a light on the fact that “drug companies are making antiobesity medications more expensive in America than anywhere else in the world.” Yeah, if it wasn’t clear from the scenes of Cartman battling a bloody Cap’n Crunch, the real villain of The End of Obesity is late-stage capitalism. Freedhoff quotes Kyle’s climactic speech: "We have sugar companies, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies all just trying to figure out how to make money off our (fucking) health. It isn’t fair to put the blame on anyone for their weight.”
“This movie should be required viewing in medical schools,” Freedhoff concludes.
How med students will feel about paying $70,000 a year to watch cartoons remains to be seen.
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