What is weight bias in medicine?
“Weight bias is very common in healthcare,” says endocrinologist and obesity specialist Marcio Griebeler, MD. “It’s an assumption or belief that is negative most of the time, and it’s based on a person’s appearance or excess weight.”
How does weight bias affect healthcare?
Experiences of or expectations for poor treatment may cause stress and avoidance of care, mistrust of doctors and poor adherence among patients with obesity. Stigma can reduce the quality of care for patients with obesity despite the best intentions of healthcare providers to provide high-quality care.
What obese patients should say to doctors?
7 Tips for Obese Patients When Talking to Your Doctor
- Spend the extra time to find a good physician.
- Bring an advocate to your appointments.
- Focus on numbers other than your weight.
- Come prepared.
- Be pushy if you need to be.
- Ask about the practical stuff.
- Be honest and specific about your lifestyle.
Can doctors tell patients to lose weight?
While guidelines on obesity recommend that doctors and other health care professionals counsel patients to lose weight, research has shown that simply telling patients to lose weight, without support from a comprehensive weight loss program, is usually not effective, Bennett says.
What is an example of weight bias in healthcare environments?
Examples of these harms include poor body image, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, loneliness, depression, anxiety, disordered eating, stress and avoidance of physical activity. Patients who experience weight bias in health care settings may avoid or delay seeking health care.
Do doctors care about BMI?
Although professional medical societies have said for years that physicians should monitor patients’ body mass index, most doctors do not. A 2006 survey of family physicians found that fewer than half checked BMIs for children older than 2, even though 71 percent knew that such checks had been recommended.
Does physician weight affect perception of health advice?
The difference for weight and fitness counseling did not reach significance (P = 0.075). Conclusions: Patients seeking care from nonobese physicians indicated greater confidence in general health counseling and treatment of illness than patients seeing obese physicians.
What BMI is too high for surgery?
Morbid obesity is defined as a BMI score of 40 or more. You typically qualify for bariatric surgery if you have a BMI of 35-39, with specific significant health problems like Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea or high blood pressure. A BMI of 40 or higher also is a qualifying factor.
What weight is too heavy for surgery?
Having a BMI of 30 or greater may prevent a surgeon from scheduling surgery. However, there is no hard and fast rule. If you fall into the “overweight” category, losing extra weight is always recommended, but may not be required by your healthcare provider.
Why do doctors care about your weight?
Your doctor may need to know your weight, but it doesn’t capture your overall health—or who you are as a person. So, along with those other measures of your health, changes in weight may be used to help diagnose or keep track of an issue.
What percentage of surgery patients report being treated disrespectfully by medical professionals?
Results: Only 13% of bariatric surgery patients reported that they were usually or always treated disrespectfully by members of the medical profession, a percentage substantially lower than that found in the previous study.
