Fat woman gets upset doctor told her to lose weight

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Ok, this is one I had to read twice to make sure I didn’t miss something…a doctor is being reviewed by his state medical board and the attorney general as a follow-up to a complaint a patient filed claiming the doctor went way beyond his ethical boundaries by telling her she had to lose weight. He did more than that, of course; other sources report that it wasn’t just the possible clinical co-morbidities (hypertension, diabetes, etc.) he told her, but potential social consequences with respect to dating among older men. Allegedly, he went that far because the patient did not ever seem to respond to lesser means to get her to acknowledge she had a problem. This was an established patient, not someone blindsided on the first visit.

I’m overweight. It’s frustrating to hear a doctor say, “Have you thought about losing weight?” because saying that to an life-long overweight person or someone who’s more than just a little puffy is asking the obvious. It’s not that we haven’t thought of it; it’s just that we haven’t been consistently successful. Any fool-ass doctor should know that obesity is a multifactorial condition, involving any combination of psychology, genetics/biology, environment, etc. and that any solution needs to be equally multi-pronged. It’s not just about going to Weight Watchers. Any review of this doctor’s behavior will be as subjective as his own opinions, but it seems clear short of his being overtly judgmental or hostile, (“How can you stand to be so fat?”) or worse yet, making baseless medical claims, (“You aren’t going to see your 50th birthday”) that he was acting in the best interest of the patient’s health. The fact that the attorney general is involved is beyond ludicrous.

Insurance preferences aside, you can see any doctor you want. If you don’t like your doctor or what s/he has to say, go to another one! If a doctor can’t tell you that you should consider reducing weight or quitting smoking, etc. then who can? Personally, I think the doctor, although somewhat of an ass, is right, although his data seems a bit off. Heh.