Humiliated and stigmatized by employees, some overweight people skip doctor appointments, according to a British study.
• Also read: Let’s avoid stigmatizing people whose weight is above the norm
Doctors and nurses have grossly hostile prejudices about their patients’ weight. Such behavior makes overweight or obese people miss doctor appointments, feel humiliated, and more likely to gain weight.
dr Anastasia Kalea and her colleagues from University College London analyzed 25 previous studies on weight stigma conducted in different countries and involving 3,554 healthcare professionals. They found “a lot of evidence [de] severe weight distortion” in a wide range of healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, dietitians, psychologists and even obesity specialists, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Their analysis found that a number of health professionals “believe their patients are lazy, lack self-control, are abusive, hostile, dishonest, have poor hygiene, and don’t follow advice,” said Dr. calea
The problem is so widespread around the world that, according to the study, medical professionals need to be taught as students that obesity in modern society is almost guaranteed and not an individual’s fault.
“Unfortunately, one of the most common places for weight stigma to fall is in the healthcare sector, including primary care, and we know this is a barrier to services and treatments that can help people manage their weight,” she added.
She was ‘shocked’ to find that during the Covid pandemic, when many services across the UK public health system have been halted, ‘many patients mentioned that they were happier with online sessions for their treatments and that they didn’t missed appointments. They felt unjudged when they left home to see their doctor.”