Who are you calling fat?
BMJ 2012; 344 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e2363 (Published 29 March 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;344:e2363
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I agree with Dr. Seetho that words should be carefully chosen. I am fat myself and comfortable with the word "fat", but I'm not sure those of average weight can understand the amount of opprobrium directed at fat people -- perhaps best understood by the inordinate approval expressed when someone loses weight (a friend who has lost a lot of weight says she has never gotten so much approval in her life for ANY accomplishment from so MANY quarters and is rather disconcerted).
If someone is having a medical problem and is probably anxious anyway, why risk increasing their distress even if plain speaking is normally preferable?
Although I am comfortable enough with myself that vocabulary doesn't trouble me, I do recall being miserable and depressed for several days when an ultrasound technician without any words so clearly indicated her disgust and repulsion with my body -- that was a BAD experience!!! Many bodies, especially those of the elderly, are not beautiful, but thank goodness most medical folk can deal with that reality reasonably well.
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No one.
"Weight loss would be beneficial for your health. If you could lose 50 pounds it is possible that your sleep apnea would no longer need CPAP."
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Re: Who are you calling fat?
Is 'fat' a medical term? No. Weight and obesity must be discussed with patients if it is relevant to their health. I can think of many examples where mentioning weight was avoided when it should have been addressed. We assess patients all the time by their weight whether prescribing a drug by weight, or by BMI (e.g combined contraceptive pill), or calculating whether they will fit on an operating table or in a MRI scanner. I have had a patient who, when cancelled for a procedure for exceeding the weight limit of the table, asked if the procedure could possibly be done on the floor of the operating theatre.
As a patient, I have been described as 'curvy'(BMI=27) by a surgeon (guessing his BMI=20). It did not feel inappropriate at the time but my partner thought it was.
Are we as doctors judgemental about our patients' weight? Often. But so are our patients. Will they take information and advice from overweight doctors?
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