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Apr 9, 2022Liked by Ragen Chastain

Both parts of this piece have been - as one expects from you, Ragen - well researched and VERY

informative. You did mention something I've never heard of and which I find VERY frightening:

Guessing a patient's weight? Is that a doctor's office or the state fair - guess my weight and

win a giant, stuffed panda! That doc would merit my last-ditch move: "You're FIRED!" Have

always made it a point to let a new doc know that he/she is am EMPLOYEE, hired to help me

with maintenance work on my home (the body I live in), and any repairs that aren't DIY-possible.

Beyond that, they are required to do nothing, certainly not to make suggestions unless asked.

Weighing in - as I point out to anyone who asks me to do it - is NOT a medical necessity unless

we're talking about a medication with a weight-based dosage, i.e., anaesthesia. It's not always

easy to get this point across, but once you do - it's SO worth it in terms of feeling empowered

in the management of your own care.

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Yeah I’ve been asked to guess my weight multiple times when I refused the weigh in. I’d like advice on a situation that happened recently if anyone has any, I’m not sure the best way I could’ve handled it. I went to get an mri for my lower back, and refused to be weighed. The nurse checking me in kept insisting I give a weight, and I told her I couldn’t because of an eating disorder history. She said the computer system wouldn’t let her finish checking me in unless I provided a number. I gave her a number that was probably around my weight and started crying I was so triggered by it, and felt like my no had no power. Another time a pcps office told me to guess and when I refused said they needed a number for insurance purposes, so I gave one and again felt really, really bad. I feel like there could be a workaround in both those situations but I’m not sure what.

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author

I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this, and especially sorry that it is creating a negative emotional impact. Please know that this is not your fault, that these interactions are not appropriate and that this never should have happened. Your reactions are completely valid and reasonable.

If it's helpful, there are several ways that I've heard some people deal with this.

You can just keep repeating "I'm exercising my right to informed refusal of weigh-in unless there is a reason that it is medically necessary"

If they claim that it's needed for insurance, you can try saying "please just put 'patient declined' and if the insurance pushes back I'll deal with it then." You can also check with your insurance and then say "I've actually called my insurance and they said that's a common misconception, but it's not true. So if you could just put 'patient declined' please."

If they say the system requires a number, you can tell them to put 1, or let them know that you are exercising your right to informed refusal and that they'll need to figure out how to input that on their software (then you can suggest putting 1 if you'd like.)

You can also try these cards, they might help: https://more-love.org/free-dont-weigh-me-cards/

Again, I'm sorry that you've faced this kind of mistreatment, you deserve so much better!

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Thank you so much! I like especially like the “I’ve already called my insurance” and I think I’ll do that!

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