Happy 2024! I am ready for another year of writing about the intersections of weight science, weight stigma, and healthcare and I’m glad you are here reading! This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter! If you like what you are reading, please consider
Another aspect of healthcare inequality, and one I know you've mentioned before, is the tendency for fat folks who've had years of bad experiences with healthcare providers to simply not go to the doctor for years at a time, if at all. I have a medical concern right now that I'm pretty worried about, but I'm afraid to bring it to my doctor because my weight is part of it and it feels like handing her a loaded gun aimed at my head to even bring it up. We have a decent relationship currently, but I'm afraid this could ruin it and set me on a negative spiral back into disordered eating and emotional trauma.
I've been lucky not to confront (yet) the more extreme possibilities in inequities, but I hate how much even the smaller things can snowball into lasting effects. I broke my ankle during the pandemic, and the Kaiser facility I attend wanted to put me in an ankle brace--but didn't have one that would fit me. Instead, they put me in a whole-leg cast, which stopped fitting properly overnight. I was given a new cast, but my ankle didn't heal properly. A doctor told me it had healed 'as much as it was going to' and advised me to limit my activities when it hurt. Years later, it still hurts anytime I stand still for more than a few minutes, making things like cooking or showering excruciating, but 'do less' continues to be the only pain advice I receive--while at the same time doctors assume my weight is the cause of my health complaints, and insist I'll be fine if I just exercise more. I used to love walking around cities and running errands on foot at the same size I am now, so I still can't fully wrap my head around how such a small injury (my only broken bone in 36 years!) and somewhat dismissive healthcare has changed everything. It's just so frustrating.
Some doctors can be so tunnel-visioned when it comes to fat people they'll simply misdiagnose you with something they can blame on your weight instead of looking objectively at your symptoms.
See: 12-year-old me learning on the spot how to advocate for myself when my doctor insisted my respiratory infection must actually be weight-induced asthma. (To the point of prescribing a completely useless inhaler and an exercise plan instead of, you know, antibiotics!)
Another aspect of healthcare inequality, and one I know you've mentioned before, is the tendency for fat folks who've had years of bad experiences with healthcare providers to simply not go to the doctor for years at a time, if at all. I have a medical concern right now that I'm pretty worried about, but I'm afraid to bring it to my doctor because my weight is part of it and it feels like handing her a loaded gun aimed at my head to even bring it up. We have a decent relationship currently, but I'm afraid this could ruin it and set me on a negative spiral back into disordered eating and emotional trauma.
I've been lucky not to confront (yet) the more extreme possibilities in inequities, but I hate how much even the smaller things can snowball into lasting effects. I broke my ankle during the pandemic, and the Kaiser facility I attend wanted to put me in an ankle brace--but didn't have one that would fit me. Instead, they put me in a whole-leg cast, which stopped fitting properly overnight. I was given a new cast, but my ankle didn't heal properly. A doctor told me it had healed 'as much as it was going to' and advised me to limit my activities when it hurt. Years later, it still hurts anytime I stand still for more than a few minutes, making things like cooking or showering excruciating, but 'do less' continues to be the only pain advice I receive--while at the same time doctors assume my weight is the cause of my health complaints, and insist I'll be fine if I just exercise more. I used to love walking around cities and running errands on foot at the same size I am now, so I still can't fully wrap my head around how such a small injury (my only broken bone in 36 years!) and somewhat dismissive healthcare has changed everything. It's just so frustrating.
Some doctors can be so tunnel-visioned when it comes to fat people they'll simply misdiagnose you with something they can blame on your weight instead of looking objectively at your symptoms.
See: 12-year-old me learning on the spot how to advocate for myself when my doctor insisted my respiratory infection must actually be weight-induced asthma. (To the point of prescribing a completely useless inhaler and an exercise plan instead of, you know, antibiotics!)