Doctors can have all the same prejudices that other people have. When those prejudices affect their patients’ health and well-being, they can be highly problematic – and harmful.
One of these prejudices, sometimes referred to as “fatphobia,” can definitely affect a patient’s level of care. This is not an uncommon prejudice. Even doctors who should know better sometimes link health and weight too closely and think that for everyone, losing weight is just a matter of discipline.
In fact, some 40% of doctors surveyed have admitted having negative attitudes about their “higher-weight” patients. Female patients seem to be on the receiving end of these negative attitudes and even insults about their weight from their doctors more than male patients.
Failure to diagnose a medical condition
The most potentially dangerous effect of weight-based prejudice by doctors is that they often dismiss any symptom or issue a patient brings them as being caused by their weight without exploring further. This can lead to conditions going undiagnosed until it’s too late to treat them.
For very large patients, just as for many disabled patients, lack of appropriate medical equipment can be a barrier to proper treatment. For example, medical facilities might not have scales, MRI scanners or even blood pressure cuffs, gowns and waiting room chairs that fit large patients.
When patients feel that their doctors and other medical professionals can’t see past their weight to provide proper medical care or feel insulted or embarrassed when they visit the doctor, they often avoid medical settings completely.
Avoiding regular medical care can have fatal outcomes
Studies have shown that higher-weight women are more likely to die from breast and cervical cancer. Both of these, if found during regular screenings and treated, have high survival rates.
If a patient’s medical condition isn’t diagnosed because they stopped having check-ups or fail to get regular mammograms or other recommended screenings, they can’t hold anyone liable for failure to diagnose. However, if a doctor fails to do any testing or consider that something other than a person’s size could be responsible for symptoms a patient is experiencing, they may have a case against their doctor if they suffer harm due to a missed or misdiagnosis.
Anyone who believes they or a loved one has suffered harm due to a doctor’s or other medical professional’s prejudices regarding their weight is smart to get legal guidance as early as possible.