OVERWEIGHT
Doctors are just as caught up in the biases of the culture as
anyone. Trouble is, it can get in the way of providing responsible
medical care. A new study by a New York psychologist shows just how
weighty the matter can be.
Women who are more than 30 percent overweight say that their
doctors often berate them about their weight, act disrespectfully while
examining them, misattribute health problems to their weight and fail to
follow standard medical procedures. As a result, obese women may avoid
physicians for years at a time and risk endangering their personal
health, reports Jaclyn Packer, Ph.D., of the Medical and Health Research
Association of New York City.
At the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association,
she recounted the true experiences of some of the 118 women she
interviewed.
"I had made up my mind to have surgery [for a possible malignant
ovarian cyst]. He said to me, 'While we have you open, have you ever
considered having a stomach stapling done?' That was when I should have
left. And it upset me that I can't do that. That I just sit there, that I
just can't say, 'What the hell are you talking about? That has absolutely
nothing to do with why I'm here. Why are you even bringing that
up?'"
"When I went to [my gynecologist] and I wanted some sort of method
of birth control, she said 'Who are you going to get? Captain
Ahab?"'
"I was raped, and the police took me to the hospital because they
had to take a sample. The doctor said 'You really should lose weight.' I
thought it was totally inappropriate, but I was in no condition to tell
him. And doctors do that all the time."
"I've gone to doctors for minor complaints and come out suicidal
because of what the doctor said to me. You know...a doctor really has the
ability to make you want to die in a lot of ways that are direct and
indirect. It certainly makes you want to never come back, and ultimately,
if you happen to have some disease process, that can kill you."
"I went to this gynecologist, and she was taking down the
questions, and she goes 'And you're not sexually active now, are you?'
And I said, 'Well, yes, I am sexually active.' 'Oh, are you?' 'Yes, I
am.' So she's examining me and she's talking about this, that, and the
other thing, and then she says again, 'You know, if you were sexually
active, I'd do this, or that, or whatever,' and I said, 'Well, I am
sexually active. I'm very active now, sexually.' [Then] she was talking
about my period, and how I didn't need it unless I wanted to get
pregnant, but I'm probably not sexually active. And I couldn't believe
it. [Finally on] my paper work, she wrote something about 'sexual
activity--none."'
PHOTO: A doctor looking through a magnifying glass.
Tags:
american psychological association,
annual meeting,
bias,
biases,
captain ahab,
doctor,
gynecologist,
health care,
health problems,
health research association,
hell,
medical care,
medical procedures,
minor complaints,
New York City,
ovarian cyst,
patient,
personal health,
true experiences,
weight,
york psychologist
