Dr. Says Parents Of Obese Children Should Lose Custody

An obesity specialist argued in an opinion piece in yesterday's Journal of the American Medical Association that parents should temporarily lose custody of extremeley obese children to foster care for not controlling their weight.

Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital in Boston, who wrote the article with Harvard School of Public Health lawyer and researcher Lindsey Murtagh, said the goal is not to blame parents, but to act in children's best interests and get them the help they need that their parents can't seem to provide.

Some two million U.S. children are extremely obese.

University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan told AP he worries there's a risk of putting too much blame on parents. He says obese children are victims of advertising, marketing, peer pressure and bullying, things he said a parent can't control.

I don't know what to think about this.  If a parent was putting their kids in danger of death some other way, they would be taken away.  Weight is a tricky issue.  I disagree with Caplan.  Kids need parents to discipline and watch out for them.

What do you think?  Should parents of obese children lose custody, at least temporarily?