Why Do Obese Patients Get Worse Care? Many Doctors Don't See Past the Fat

Re:Why Do Obese Patients Get Worse Care? Many Doctors Don't ... by lsy on Monday September 26, 2016 @12:38PM (#12583307)

Aside from the actual example cited in the article which would appear to contravene "never", as well as plenty of reports from actual obese people, there's a linked study with research on the various ways obesity can cause lower quality of care:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12266/full

"Finally, physicians may over-attribute symptoms and problems to obesity, and fail to refer the patient for diagnostic testing or to consider treatment options beyond advising the patient to lose weight. In one study involving medical students, virtual patients with shortness of breath were more likely to receive lifestyle change recommendations if they were obese (54% vs. 13%), and more likely to receive medication to manage symptoms if they were normal weight (23% vs. 5%)."

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Re:Why Do Obese Patients Get Worse Care? Many Doctors Don't ... by throwanem on Monday September 26, 2016 @12:59PM (#12583489)

The study you cite does not seem to support your contention in so doing:

> Comparisons of recommendation categories for shortness of breath by condition revealed that students were more likely to recommend lifestyle changes when the patient was obese than when she was not obese, χ2 (1, N =76) =14.6, p<.0001. They were less likely to recommend symptom management (i.e., bronchodilator prescription) for shortness of breath when the patient was obese, χ2 (1, N =76) =4.8, p<.05. There was, however, no significant difference in recommendation rates for diagnostic tests.

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