"Health is a cultural construction, not a “fact” that can be defined in terms of science"

[Blubbartron]

You're one of the monsters this woman was talking about:

[citation needed]

[RKenshin]

Excessively long wait times at a hospital/clinic/ER, apparently only for fat people?

[Pirian]

Thin privilege is not being questioned about your story! Gosh guys, way to add to fat ridicule!

[Blubbartron]

If you want a story about a hospital fucking something up for a fat person, I can speak from personal experience. It wasn't quite that bad, but it still sucked in any case.

Last year I had a bunionectomy. A week or so before my scheduled surgery, I got a phone call from the surgeon's office informing me that I would actually need to go to the main hospital instead of the outpatient surgery center I was originally scheduled for. They told me it was a new protocol the hospital system was instituting for people over a certain BMI, because the outpatient center didn't have the ability to support (figuratively, not literally) people of immense size. My guess is that it was because of potential heart problems and anesthesia exacerbating them.

I didn't really have an issue with that. What I have an issue with is the catastrofuck that was my surgery and the care I received afterwards. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but 3 days after my surgery I learned that my surgeon didn't have his standard order sets in the computer system at the main hospital. All his standard setup to ensure I would get the proper care immediately after surgery (pain meds, crutches, etc) had to be input manually, and naturally, he forgot some important things due to becoming reliant on his one-click system at the outpatient center.

The end result was me being in quite a lot of pain following the surgery (he did eventually get me a vicodin prescription before I went home), and I also went home without a surgical boot. I was told by the nurse and a medical supplier person (not sure if she was also a nurse or not) that I should use the crutches and could put slight weight on my naked, bandaged foot which had just been operated on. Three days after the surgery I emailed the surgeon to ask him why things were hurting so much, and described what I was told by the nurse/medical supply people. He told me I should come in immediately to get a surgical boot, and that's when I found out about all the problems.

[Xajii]

that has nothing to do with your weight just the treatment center..

[Kuya]

Fat priviledge is being able to attribute all mistreatment you receive to your fatness.

[Blubbartron]

that has nothing to do with your weight just the treatment center..

I'm aware, which is why I described it very generally as "a story about a hospital fucking something up for a fat person". My weight was, at the absolute most, a minor, indirect cause. It directly caused the location change, but the vast majority of the blame (95%+) goes to the surgeon and nursing staff for not knowing how wrong it was to send someone home without a surgical boot after having a foot operated on.

[Xajii]

ok, thanks for your irrelevant story

[Jaybar]

No that's a "story about a hospital fucking something up"

[Day]

i too have heard tale of these mistakes hospitals sometimes make

[Blubbartron]

I think I was being a little too abstract with the connection I was drawing. I posted that story because that's an honest account of a hospital mistake. Assuming, for a moment, that Milkster's quoted story was a personal account from a real person (albeit a deranged moron), I am completely willing to believe that someone with potential appendicitis was sitting in an ER unexamined for many hours.

Unfortunately, honest accounts of mistakes don't interest people (as evidenced by the completely disinterested "cool story, bro" posts). People want the drama of "patient was intentionally fucked over because of weight/race/creed/sex". It's why victim culture is growing, and it's why sensationalist journalism has taken over completely. I suppose it's also possible it's fear of truly random unfortunate events (i.e. there are no accidents, there must be a reason why this bad thing happened to me). I think we'd be better off if we reacted more to honest assessments of bad things than exaggerated stories. Like trolls, they'll only go away if we ignore them.

inb4 safe face (mildly accurate, in this case)

[kuronosan]

It's not the mistake that doesn't happen. Those kinds of issues happen often. The fact that it's attributed to weight is what is hard to swallow.

[Kerberoz]

Like they've ever found anything hard to swallow...

[Rhyis.]

[Marootsoobutsu]

If you want a story about a hospital fucking something up for a fat person, I can speak from personal experience. It wasn't quite that bad, but it still sucked in any case.

As can I... well, sort of personal. My wife went from a svelt 140 lbs to about 220 lbs. She was concerned, because she couldn't lose weight. Her doctor told her to "eat less." I prepared her meals; I know exactly how much she ate-- and she was asking me to prepare less. She was down to about 1k calories per day, walking everywhere, and was maintaining weight. She kept begging her doctor (literally begging; I was there with her on several occasions) for something to help. He ultimately chalked it up to feminine hysteria (I wasn't there for that one, and she didn't tell me this until much, much later), and offered nothing. She stops asking for help after this.

Fast forward seven months, we're using a different doctor's office. She's getting an exam for what she thinks is a rash. The doctor, on first entering the room, exclaimed "Holy shit," didn't even look at the rash, and immediately called for an endocrinology consult, told my wife, "I think you have a severely developed case of Cushing's disease." For the medical folks, the rash wasn't a rash, it was a fungal infection (something, evidently, common with Cushing's). Turns out, her adrenals were riddled with micro tumors, her cortisone was at a permanent "MAKE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN RIGHT THE HELL NOW FOR ALL YOU'RE WORTH" setting, and she was one of those genuine cases of "It's a hormone problem." She's back down to a rockin' 150, though she's still dealing with regaining her muscle mass (issues with her heart both caused by and tangentially related to her Cushings-- look up Carney Complex any of you doctor types out there-- prevent any serious exercise).

That all said... I don't know if Doctor #1 dismissed her because she was fat, or because she was female. I'm guessing a combination of the two, though.

[Blubbartron]

That all said... I don't know if Doctor #1 dismissed her because she was fat, or because she was female. I'm guessing a combination of the two, though.

I'm glad she got the help she needed, but you're exemplifying something I pointed out in a post above. Why do we have to assume that doctors were dismissive because of some kind of prejudice? This is the shitty thing about doctors that you have to keep in mind - when it comes to personal health management, they can only make suggestions. They have no idea if their recommendations are taken to heart, and even if a patient reports that they did as they were told, the doctor can't be sure they actually did or not. Everybody lies.

That said, I think the more likely case is she just had a really shitty doctor. I complained about having inordinately high thirst levels for a week or so and my doctor immediately ordered an A1C test to check for diabetes. When I first went to that doctor for a checkup he did a full blood panel. If doctors don't track what's "normal" for you, they'll never catch an invisible hormone-affecting disease until it does something that's way more abnormal than weight gain (like a big fucking rash/fungus).

[TacoTaru]

The fat that it's attributed to weight is what is hard to swallow.

[Charismatic]

Fat priviledge is being able to attribute all mistreatment you receive to your fatness.

Sounds a lot like female privilege.

Spoiler: show

I'm not kidding.

[kuronosan]

I'm glad she got the help she needed, but you're exemplifying something I pointed out in a post above. Why do we have to assume that doctors were dismissive because of some kind of prejudice? This is the shitty thing about doctors that you have to keep in mind - when it comes to personal health management, they can only make suggestions. They have no idea if their recommendations are taken to heart, and even if a patient reports that they did as they were told, the doctor can't be sure they actually did or not. Everybody lies.

That said, I think the more likely case is she just had a really shitty doctor. I complained about having inordinately high thirst levels for a week or so and my doctor immediately ordered an A1C test to check for diabetes. When I first went to that doctor for a checkup he did a full blood panel. If doctors don't track what's "normal" for you, they'll never catch an invisible hormone-affecting disease until it does something that's way more abnormal than weight gain (like a big fucking rash/fungus).

You also have to remember that some doctors see people every day that lie and make shit up and, rather than remain passionate about medicine, the doctor takes it upon their self to be a colossal douchebag and not do the proper testing necessary to diagnose.

Cushing's is no joke. Doctors are so resistant to modernizations in medicine because they feel threatened and some just don't realize how harmful that is to their patients.

[Marootsoobutsu]

You also have to remember that some doctors see people every day that lie and make shit up and, rather than remain passionate about medicine, the doctor takes it upon their self to be a colossal douchebag and not do the proper testing necessary to diagnose.

Cushing's is no joke. Doctors are so resistant to modernizations in medicine because they feel threatened and some just don't realize how harmful that is to their patients.

Cushing's is not only no joke, it's readily visible to those who know what to look for. Like, oh, I don't know, say a doctor. Especially when it's been going on for almost 2 full years... I mean, next doctor took one look, and she wasn't even consulted about the weight gain... just the rash-that-wasn't-a-rash. And Blubbar, while everybody lies (thank you House), people who catalog and bring in a journal that outlies every meal and snack they had and the time they had it... I think it's safe to assume they are taking things seriously, and if not, their dedication to their lie deserves your dedicated attention. This doctor was obviously terrible, but when someone today chalks something up as "feminine hysteria" I think there *MIGHT* be a little bit of room to suggest some kind of prejudice. Just... just maybe.