Launch week is over and it’s time for our first Friday discussion thread on the Weight and Healthcare newsletter. If you enjoy the conversations and posts here, please consider subscribing and/or sharing!
We talk a lot (and rightly so!) about the negative things that happen with healthcare practitioners and weight stigma. Today I want to hear your stories about HCPs getting it right. Tell us about appointments where they treated your health instead of trying to manipulate your size. Tell us about experiences where you were fully accommodated with furniture, gowns, diagnostic tools etc.
Share the healthcare appointments and experiences that give us hope for a better, less fatphobic, future!
My gynecologist (Kaiser San Jose) has never commented on my weight (in fact when I was denied access to outpatient surgery because of BMI) she was surprised and told me that she never considered my weight a factor. I had a psychiatrist (Kaiser San Jose), when I asked her why she never brought up weight in regards to my depression, responded that my weight didn't seem to be an issue for me. (She was right!) I am very careful about choosing my primaries and have had both good and bad experiences; but mostly, my care at Kaiser San Jose has been lacking in fatphobia.
Really good primary care doctor at Franklin Square and Ridge Road and really great GYN through more than just this reason add Chase Brexton. Was freaking out during my first ever Pap smear and she was so supportive. Plus we’re OK with waiting until healthcare.
Agh, I am sad to realize how hard it is to think of a story like this! But I will say -- I've found that both my primary care and gynecologist offices have accepted it without any pushback when I refused to be weighed at appointments. They all just move on to the next vital sign. I wonder a lot how my privilege as a small fat person enables that -- I'm sure fatter folks get more pressure to get on the scale. But I am grateful that they respect the boundary and I do see it subtly shifting the direction of the care I receive because these doctors no longer have that number available to them, so they have to talk to me about other things!
I recently have started seeing a nurse practitioner specializing in GI issues, and oh. my. god. It's the first time I feel like I have a doctor who is listening to me, and never once alluded to weight in assessing what was going on with my stomach health. She listened to my concerns, she answered ALL my questions honestly and instead of ordering me to do something, we talked together about what the best next step for me is. I still don't have an answer, but I feel like we're on track to find one, and I trust her to help me with next steps again, if needed. And again, never once insinuated or implied that weight had anything to do with what was happening. First. Time. EVER. (I'm 42, fwiw, so I've been seeing fatmisiac health care professionals forever and ever.)
My therapist, though not an MD, is a fat acceptance therapist, which is truly wonderful as well. Mental health care is obviously health care, and I give thanks for her existence every single day. She is the first therapist I've ever seen who is grounded in anti-diet, fat acceptance principles and it's made a world of difference.
I've never gone to a doctor and learned that they are truly weight-neutral in their own beliefs around health, but I have had several doctors listen to my request for weight-neutral care and then provide just that. Those are definitely the doctors I keep going back to. I'm especially grateful to have a wonderful gynecologist who is compassionate and also very competent. I've heard a few stories from others who have gone to physicians and discovered that, even if they use a different word for it, they are at least somewhat weight-neutral in their approach. It does happen. I am always SO hearted to hear of med students who are interested in learning about fatphobia and medical weight stigma -- I am hopeful that more and more healthcare providers will treat patients from a weight-neutral perspective!
This past year I found the courage to decline weigh-ins and it only raised a bit of extra questioning once! And, even in that instance, their question was: "are you sure you don't want to get a weight on record, it's your annual physical?" So, they were leaving it up to me.
A few months ago my daughter had an appointment with a new doctor, and as she does with all doctors, right at the start she set her boundaries, informing of her eating disorder and that discussing weight is harmful for her recovery. The doctor was very respectful of this and kept the discussion to pertinent information related to the reason she was there. At the end of the appointment, my daughter handed several HAES Health Sheets to the doctor who said she would read them.
Just this week my daughter had a follow up appointment with this doctor, who started the appointment by saying that she had read the HAES health sheets and had scanned them to my daughter’s file! At the end of the appointment my daughter sincerely thanked the doctor for taking the time to read the sheets, and the doctor said, “absolutely, I’m working for you!” It was an amazing experience, and we’re glad this is one doctor she can relax about seeing in the future.
My gynecologist (Kaiser San Jose) has never commented on my weight (in fact when I was denied access to outpatient surgery because of BMI) she was surprised and told me that she never considered my weight a factor. I had a psychiatrist (Kaiser San Jose), when I asked her why she never brought up weight in regards to my depression, responded that my weight didn't seem to be an issue for me. (She was right!) I am very careful about choosing my primaries and have had both good and bad experiences; but mostly, my care at Kaiser San Jose has been lacking in fatphobia.
Really good primary care doctor at Franklin Square and Ridge Road and really great GYN through more than just this reason add Chase Brexton. Was freaking out during my first ever Pap smear and she was so supportive. Plus we’re OK with waiting until healthcare.
Agh, I am sad to realize how hard it is to think of a story like this! But I will say -- I've found that both my primary care and gynecologist offices have accepted it without any pushback when I refused to be weighed at appointments. They all just move on to the next vital sign. I wonder a lot how my privilege as a small fat person enables that -- I'm sure fatter folks get more pressure to get on the scale. But I am grateful that they respect the boundary and I do see it subtly shifting the direction of the care I receive because these doctors no longer have that number available to them, so they have to talk to me about other things!
I recently have started seeing a nurse practitioner specializing in GI issues, and oh. my. god. It's the first time I feel like I have a doctor who is listening to me, and never once alluded to weight in assessing what was going on with my stomach health. She listened to my concerns, she answered ALL my questions honestly and instead of ordering me to do something, we talked together about what the best next step for me is. I still don't have an answer, but I feel like we're on track to find one, and I trust her to help me with next steps again, if needed. And again, never once insinuated or implied that weight had anything to do with what was happening. First. Time. EVER. (I'm 42, fwiw, so I've been seeing fatmisiac health care professionals forever and ever.)
My therapist, though not an MD, is a fat acceptance therapist, which is truly wonderful as well. Mental health care is obviously health care, and I give thanks for her existence every single day. She is the first therapist I've ever seen who is grounded in anti-diet, fat acceptance principles and it's made a world of difference.
I've never gone to a doctor and learned that they are truly weight-neutral in their own beliefs around health, but I have had several doctors listen to my request for weight-neutral care and then provide just that. Those are definitely the doctors I keep going back to. I'm especially grateful to have a wonderful gynecologist who is compassionate and also very competent. I've heard a few stories from others who have gone to physicians and discovered that, even if they use a different word for it, they are at least somewhat weight-neutral in their approach. It does happen. I am always SO hearted to hear of med students who are interested in learning about fatphobia and medical weight stigma -- I am hopeful that more and more healthcare providers will treat patients from a weight-neutral perspective!
This past year I found the courage to decline weigh-ins and it only raised a bit of extra questioning once! And, even in that instance, their question was: "are you sure you don't want to get a weight on record, it's your annual physical?" So, they were leaving it up to me.
A few months ago my daughter had an appointment with a new doctor, and as she does with all doctors, right at the start she set her boundaries, informing of her eating disorder and that discussing weight is harmful for her recovery. The doctor was very respectful of this and kept the discussion to pertinent information related to the reason she was there. At the end of the appointment, my daughter handed several HAES Health Sheets to the doctor who said she would read them.
Just this week my daughter had a follow up appointment with this doctor, who started the appointment by saying that she had read the HAES health sheets and had scanned them to my daughter’s file! At the end of the appointment my daughter sincerely thanked the doctor for taking the time to read the sheets, and the doctor said, “absolutely, I’m working for you!” It was an amazing experience, and we’re glad this is one doctor she can relax about seeing in the future.