The husband of a New York woman who was turned away from a flight back to the US for being too fat is suing two airlines for her untimely death. Janos Soltesz and his wife Vilma, a 56-year-old diabetic with kidney disease who weighed 30 stone, flew to their native Hungary in September, and planned to return on 15 October. But at the airport, the Dutch airline KLM was unable to get Mrs Soltesz on board the flight on which she had booked two seats. Staff told her to drive to Prague, and take a larger Delta Air Lines plane from there. According to her husband, she managed to board the plane in Prague, but was thrown off again when she couldn’t buckle her seat belt. Arranging an alternative flight took nine days, delaying – her lawyer says – the medical treatment she needed; she died before she could get home. Her husband is seeking $6m in damages. (The Week).

We don’t know what caused Vilma Soltesz’s physical problem.  Maybe it was inherited and no fault of her own.  Unfortunately, a combination of cheap, plentiful food, the deliberate inclusion by food companies of unhealthy ingredients, and simply lack of self-discipline, have caused a horrendous epidemic of obese and unhealthy people, the cost of whose treatment is borne by us all.  The more widespread  obesity becomes, the more politically sensitive it also becomes.

First, food manufacturers should be forced to temper the inclusion of salt and sweeteners in their products.  But in the end moderate eating has to be the answer.  An Epicurean answer.  I am sorry about the death of Mrs. Soltesz, but she and her husband must have known about the size of aircraft and the difficulties of travel.  Why did they expect the airlines to act any differently?

The Catholic Church assiduously labeled followers of Epicurus as gluttons, whose only philosophy of life was excess.  The truth is that Epicureans believe in quite the opposite.  While finding pleasure in life , they believe in moderation, especially in the matter of eating.