Obesity Rights: The Right to Fair Healthcare
Posted on May 5, 2009 by Kate
Obese people are less likely to be respected by doctors and it could harm their care. Overweight patients have suspected that they were being treated differently because of their weight, and now there’s finally proof that it is true.
Research from Yale and the University of Pennsylvania show that patients who are overweight are more likely to have their symptoms and problems ignored by doctors. Instead of treating the cause of their symptoms, doctors are likely to tell the patients just to lose weight.
Two studies reported in the Journal of Obesity research showed that doctors viewed obese patients as lazy and non-compliant with care. As a result, many obese and overweight patients avoid going to the doctor because of the negative attitude that they receive during their visit.
This causes two problems. First, doctors may be misdiagnosing problems in their patients. Although obesity can cause many secondary problems, like high blood pressure or back pain, it is not the cause of every ache and pain that the human body goes through. By writing off someone’s pain as nothing more than a few extra pounds, the doctors could miss out on important medical issues.
Additionally, overweight patients are less likely to go into the doctor’s office for routine cancer screenings and other important medical care. The bad attitude of health care professionals can mean that some obese patients would rather stay sick than be treated by professionals who are too eager to label and misdiagnose due to weight alone.
Fortunately, this issue is receiving a lot of attention and steps are being taken to make the medical community more sensitive to the needs of overweight individuals. Obesity rights for overweight individuals should be no different than anyone else’s expected right to healthcare.
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