Anorexia Bulimia - Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Our medical malpractice lawyers deal with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating negligence cases. If you would like legal advice at no cost and with no further obligation just call the helpline or complete the contact form or email our lawyers offices. Our Eating Disorder lawyers usually deal with personal injury compensation cases on a contingency basis which means that you only pay your lawyers legal fees if the case is won.

Eating Disorder - Medical Malpractice

The main eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating. Each are different conditions that affect the health and welfare of the individual who suffers from the disorder. All are diseases that can occur at any age but are more common in young people and more common in people with whom appearance is essential, such as actors, actresses, ballerinas, gymnasts and other types of athletes.

In anorexia nervosa, the individual usually suffers from a low self esteem. They feel a strong need to control their emotions and their environment. It is the result of feeling stress, anxiety and sadness as well as the feeling of having a life that is out of their control. There may also be a genetic predisposition to getting anorexia. There may be the ongoing feeling of being fat even though others would perceive them as being thin-even too thin. The individual obsesses about dieting and uses starvation to gain control over their body, including their feelings. Others can feel as though they don't deserve to get any pleasure out of their life so they deprive themselves of things, including food.

There can be excessive exercising, counting of calories and fat grams, restriction of food to the point of starvation, vomiting which is self-induced, the use of diet pills, diuretics and laxative pills in order to lose weight. There can be periods of binging and purging, also known as bulimic symptoms. The whole idea is to maintain strict control over the food they take in. It is far more common in women than in men and can occur in teens and in the 20s most commonly. There is a strong relationship between a past history of emotional, sexual or physical abuse and coming down with anorexia.

The diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa include 1) the refusal to maintain one's body weight at least to a minimum expected weight; 2) an intense fear of gaining weight; 3) a disturbance in body image so that the person sees themselves as fat when they are not; 4) a loss of menstrual periods for at least three consecutive months.

There are two types of anorexia: 1) the restrictive type in which the person only starves themselves but does not binge-eat or purge in any way; 2) the binging or purging type in which the person vomits or uses laxatives or diuretics in order to lose weight.

In bulimia nervosa, the individual often eats a large quantity of food and then vomits the food shortly after eating it. Laxatives may be used instead in order to get the food out of the body. Bulimics often have a low self esteem and feel overwhelmed by their own feelings. They use binging and purging as a form of punishment for something they perceive they have done. Binging and purging can be related to body image or to other life events. There may be a genetic predisposition to the disease.

People with bulimia are often fascinated by food and enjoy talking about recipes, reading food magazines and discussing dieting procedures. They often rapidly consume their food and it is often a large amount of food. They then feel guilty and purge in some way, either by vomiting or by taking laxatives. They often take diet pills as well and have a persistent concern over their bodily image.

The difference between anorexia and bulimia is that with anorexia, there is strict control over eating and with bulimia, they go out of control with their eating (binging behaviours) and then the guilt follows with purging of some type. Bulimics often take diet pills to stop themselves from binging and they can try to use diuretics in order to lose weight.

The cause of bulimia is roughly the same as the cause of anorexia. Both seem to be a response to social pressure along with a history of sexual, physical or emotional abuse. There are deep emotional conflicts that need resolving before the bulimia goes away.

The textbook diagnosis of bulimia nervosa includes 1) recurrent episodes of binge eating; recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviour that is designed to prevent weight gain; 3) the behaviour occurs at a rate of twice a week or more for at least three months; 4) the overemphasis of the patient's thinking toward body shape and weight.

There can be the purging type, in which vomiting or laxatives are used, and the non-purging type, in which there is excessive exercise or fasting between binging episodes.

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here