Are Doctors Prejudiced Against Overweight People? - 21 views

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  #1 Emma Boczek on 01 May 13

   

  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/overweight-patients-face-bias/
  
  How has our society developed a culture that treats people who are overweight differently than so-called "healthy" people? Can a doctor's level of empathy have an effect on a treatment's success?

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner"><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/overweight-patients-face-bias/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/overweight-patients-face-bias/</a> <br /> <br /> How has our society developed a culture that treats people who are overweight differently than so-called "healthy" people? Can a doctor's level of empathy have an effect on a treatment's success?</div>

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  #2 Gibson Katz on 16 May 13

   

  >Are Doctors Prejudiced Against Overweight People?
  
  Yes. You can ask any overweight person, and they will probably give you the same answer, that is, if they haven't given up due to being herranged over weight

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">>Are Doctors Prejudiced Against Overweight People? <br /> <br /> Yes. You can ask any overweight person, and they will probably give you the same answer, that is, if they haven't given up due to being herranged over weight</div>

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  #3 Jonah Amargi-Levy on 16 May 13

   

  I certainly feel that people in general do treat obese people differently than people of an avg weight. I do not condone these perceptions but believe they have to do with our cultures obsession with beauty and perfection. it is a scary thought to think your doctor would treat a person of avg weight with more empathy and care than that of a fat person.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I certainly feel that people in general do treat obese people differently than people of an avg weight. I do not condone these perceptions but believe they have to do with our cultures obsession with beauty and perfection. it is a scary thought to think your doctor would treat a person of avg weight with more empathy and care than that of a fat person.</div>

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  #5 Meg Weiss on 30 May 13

   

  I was really shocked to find out that this was going on. I understand the last point made in the article, that doctors are trained to point out medical problems, and obesity is something that they cannot just supply antibiotics for and be done with it, however simply wagging your finger at someone about their weight when they come in for a different problem is not helping anyone. I think that overweight people know that they are overweight, and the doctor does not need to remind them when they come in with complaints of a sore throat. As the article points out, doctors constantly telling their patients to lose weight when it is not relevant to their appointment has actually caused people to stop going to the doctor, which can be very dangerous. I think that medical schools should start teaching students how to interact with all sorts of patients, because it has become a very important part of their job.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I was really shocked to find out that this was going on. I understand the last point made in the article, that doctors are trained to point out medical problems, and obesity is something that they cannot just supply antibiotics for and be done with it, however simply wagging your finger at someone about their weight when they come in for a different problem is not helping anyone. I think that overweight people know that they are overweight, and the doctor does not need to remind them when they come in with complaints of a sore throat. As the article points out, doctors constantly telling their patients to lose weight when it is not relevant to their appointment has actually caused people to stop going to the doctor, which can be very dangerous. I think that medical schools should start teaching students how to interact with all sorts of patients, because it has become a very important part of their job.</div>

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  #6 Sarah Asch on 30 May 13

   

  I think that the part of the reason that this is happening, although I am not excusing it in the slightest, is that there is an underlying feeling that obese people have brought this problem on themselves. Whenever we do health units in class we all learn that McDonalds and Burger King are terrible unhealthy choices so we think that if people eat there all the time and are obese that it is somehow their fault. It's dangerous to make that kind of assumption for several reasons. For one, there is of course other reasons for obesity besides bad diets. For another, we can't know for certain that others are being educated about the dangers of fast food in the same way the we are in health-concious Mill Valley. For another, money is a huge decider when it comes to diet. Even if people know what they should and shouldn't be eating that doesn't mean they can afford to shop at Whole Foods.
  But even so obesity has this blame attached to it and that has transferred to the medical profession, which is absolutely unacceptable because doctors should treat everyone the same--that is their job.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I think that the part of the reason that this is happening, although I am not excusing it in the slightest, is that there is an underlying feeling that obese people have brought this problem on themselves. Whenever we do health units in class we all learn that McDonalds and Burger King are terrible unhealthy choices so we think that if people eat there all the time and are obese that it is somehow their fault. It's dangerous to make that kind of assumption for several reasons. For one, there is of course other reasons for obesity besides bad diets. For another, we can't know for certain that others are being educated about the dangers of fast food in the same way the we are in health-concious Mill Valley. For another, money is a huge decider when it comes to diet. Even if people know what they should and shouldn't be eating that doesn't mean they can afford to shop at Whole Foods. <br /> But even so obesity has this blame attached to it and that has transferred to the medical profession, which is absolutely unacceptable because doctors should treat everyone the same--that is their job.</div>

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