Doughnuts = Death?
HR professionals and employment lawyers across the country are abuzz over the forced resignation of a Panama City, Florida physician. His offense? Promoting health.
Dr. Jason Newsom was hired a few years ago to run the Bay County Health Department. As a doctor and director of an entity with the word “Health” in the middle of its name, one might think promoting healthy living would be one of his main duties. But apparently some felt he went a bit too far.
The former Army doctor who served in Iraq declared war against obesity by posting warnings on an electronic sign outside the building. Some of the messages:
FRENCH FRIES = THUNDER THIGHS
HAMBURGER = SPARE TIRE
SWEET TEA = LIQUID SUGAR
But when he started attacking doughnuts, things turned ugly. He started by posting DOUGHNUTS = DEATH and DOUGHNUTS = DIABETES.
“I picked on doughnuts because those things are ubiquitous in this county” Newsom said. “Everywhere I went, there were two dozen doughnuts on the back table.” Newsom points to statistics showing that 39% of the adults in his county are overweight and that one in four is considered obese. His own employees turned against him when he banned doughnuts from staff meetings and started tossing them into the trash whenever he saw them in the break room.
When Newsom countered Dunkin’ Donuts’ America Runs on Dunkin’ ads by posting AMERICA DIES ON DUNKIN’, some local doughnut shop owners decided enough was enough. Two lawyers who co-own a new Dunkin’ Donuts demanded that Newsom take down the sign. They had the backing of a county commissioner who, coincidentally, also owns a doughnut shop.
Newsom says that shortly after the lawyers and commissioner got involved, his bosses gave him an ultimatum: resign or be fired. He resigned.
Newsom is currently working at a prison giving inmates physicals. But he’s trying to get his old job back. The position has been posted and he’s one of the applicants.
The health department has refused to comment on the situation because Newsom is an active job applicant. But Newsom has been anything but quiet. “My method was a little provocative and controversial,” he said. “But there wasn’t a person in Bay County who wasn’t talking about health and healthy living.”
Stay tuned to see how this plays out.
