Doctors shouldn’t ‘fat shame’ patients to make them eat less, expert warns

Doctors who ‘fat shame’ patients in an attempt to make them live a healthier lifestyle are actually harming them, a new report suggests.

Many overweight patients die with undiagnosed medical conditions – suggesting that they are delaying seeking help for conditions, possibly due to fear of what doctors might say.

Joan Chrisler, professor of psychology at Connecticut College, said, ‘Disrespectful treatment and medical fat shaming, in an attempt to motivate people to change their behavior, is stressful and can cause patients to delay health care-seeking or avoid interacting with providers.’

Chrisler said that overweight patients experience ‘microaggressions’ from medical staff, such as a ‘provider’s apparent reluctance to touch a fat patient, or a headshake, wince or ‘tsk’ while noting the patient’s weight in the chart.’

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Doctors also tend to tell obese patients to lose weight – rather than prescribing other treatments, Chrisler said.

Chrisler said, ‘Recommending different treatments for patients with the same condition based on their weight is unethical and a form of malpractice.

‘Research has shown that doctors repeatedly advise weight loss for fat patients while recommending CAT scans, blood work or physical therapy for other, average-weight patients.

Chrisler said that in a review of 300 autopsy reports, obese patients were 1.65 times more likely to have undiagnosed medical conditions such as ischemic bowel disease or even lung cancer.