It was 6:30 A.M., and I was getting ready to head down to the operating room for the first case of the day: an abdominal wall hernia repair. In preparation for the case, I logged on to the electronic health record portal and read through the patient’s medical history and the preoperative notes written by the surgical team. In many of the physician notes, the first line noted the patient’s body mass index of 41.
Antifatness is socially ingrained and virtually inescapable. Pop culture idolizes thinness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created an alarmist “obesity epidemic” based on exaggerated data that haven’t held up. Like everyone else in society who is socially conditioned to this bias, clinicians are not exempt from harboring antifatness.
Weight bias is heightened and reinforced in the surgical setting, where surgeries on higher BMI individuals take more time, cost more money and have an increased risk of complications. Antifatness attitudes and behaviors may be higher among surgeons partly as a result of the lack of filter people may have when the patient is sedated. The increased time and care required in these cases can be difficult for surgeons, whose time and care are already strained given staff shortages.
A culture of antifatness among surgeons leads to compounding negative impacts on individual patients and the health system. Studies show weight bias from providers is palpable for patients. Patients can sense the lack of dignity and respect in providers’ attitudes and, in turn, may choose not to interact with the system that degrades them.
Ultimately, the biases and behaviors that maintain antifatness need to change. Potential avenues for change include creating systemwide education, amending medical documentation, reframing patient conversations and advocating for upstream policies that increase access. A health provider’s goal should be health—vital statistics, lab results, symptom reduction, time spent exercising, mental health—not thinness.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
I’m confused how this is any different from having a weight that’s too low or being a smoker. If it’s something that’s potentially going to complicate not only the healing process after but the viability of surgery itself, isn’t that risk more important?
i think this would be different if the medical condition weren’t related but preventative medicine is hitting walls at every step trying to keep up with a social climate of protecting feelings over presenting valid concerns
This article is from the point of view of a medical student who is conveniently unaffected by the increased likelihood of complications and liability of operating on an obese patient.
😑
the replies gonna be interesting 👀
Weight compounds health problems, and fat people need to recognize it and get healthier.
Good information
The human heart 🫀 says otherwise.
'Look at all these issues that arise due to obeisity, I mean 'unhealthiness.' It must be because surgeons are fatphobic and not because being obese has compounding complications.' OP: How could they let the hernia get that size? Me: The same way they let themselves get that size
Weight bias is huge out in the Americas as well, just tell the truth surgeons. Do the rite acts of surgical compassion
The article is not promoting being overweight. This patient delayed seeking medical attention. The problem is medical bias against ‘fatness’. Bariatric surgery and services to stop this epidemic are underutilize and underfunded.
'Patients with a higher weight are also 12 times more likely to have a complication requiring extended hospitalization'. Maybe that's why surgeons are 'antifat' (telling obese patients they should lose weight before surgery), not because society hates fat people
Obesity is a disease, cancer is a disease, aids is a disease for a scientific magazine you should know better. Hence, everyone should be antifatness, anticancer, antihiv
Fucking hell you no longer even pretending you're about science.
Weight compounds health problems.
Just skimming the article was interesting will defo read later
TLDR: This is diet industry propaganda:
This was disappointing and the thinly veiled attempt to blame poor treatment of patients on physician stress and job complexity was a real wrong turn.
So close and yet so far.....
So you're deliberately posting an opinion piece on facebook because actual science articles in SciAm are ... what? Boring? Not polarizing enough? Nice job, admin. Nice job.
🤡 magazine.
how the hell is this an article in the 'Scientific American' 😫😫😩🤦🏽♂️
Weight compounds health problems
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