– I keep getting questions from other fat people if I can recommend good doctors who don’t discriminate against patients because of their weight, says Carina Elisabeth Carlsen (36) from Lillestrøm. She refers to herself as fat. Several times she has gone to doctors with a problem. According to Carlsen, the doctors have only talked about her weight. She has not received help with the ailments she came for. – You go in with an ear infection and go out with slimming surgery on prescription, but nothing for the earache, she says. – I know I’m fat Carlsen is a counselor and body activist. The Lillestrøm woman likes to shock with her body-positive photos on the Instagram account @fetmenfattet. She is used to people, including doctors, looking at her with judgmental eyes. When she is at the doctor’s office, she tends to get ahead of the doctors. – I usually say that I know I’m fat. Then I ask what the doctor would say to a slim person who told me about the same problem as me, she says. Carlsen has contact with many overweight women via his social media. She often gets stories that are hurtful and painful. – Fat people can bear hearing that their weight is a health risk. The problem is that it gets too much focus, she emphasizes. Carina Elisabeth Carlsen (29) Went to the gynecologist to find out about sterilization. Was told that she was too fat to get pregnant. Mari Mette Graff (56) Says that she has experienced being “looked at” and that the doctor rolled his eyes at her weight. Tanja Helen Kvitnes (32) The 32-year-old says that the doctor made a number of efforts to find a large enough blood pressure monitor. She is dropping new doctor visits. Woman (24) Asked for an appointment for breast reduction. The doctor didn’t want to examine her because he thought she was too fat. “Fat-phobic” doctors More Norwegians are getting fatter. This is shown by figures from the Public Health Report, which was updated last year. One in four Norwegians is now overweight. news has spoken to many overweight women. In this connection, the term “fat-phobic” doctors appeared. Many fat people say they are told to eat less and exercise more every time they see the doctor. Leader of the National Association for the Overweight, Marit-Mette Graff, weighed 150 kilos and was ashamed of how she looked. I experienced being “ashamed” and “stared” in the meeting with the doctor. – When the fat gets in and spoils the doctor’s view of you, then it is discrimination, says Graff. – Shouldn’t the doctors tell it like it is if the patient is dangerously fat? – Absolutely. The doctor has a duty to address possible health risks. But it must not be the case that the fat overshadows other health problems, says Graff. – When you come to the healthcare system and seek help, we must be able to assume that you are worth just as much. Regardless of who you are and what you weigh, says leader of the National Association for the Overweight Marit-Mette Graff from Tromsø. Photo: Maria Langaard – Could have cut off my arms Tanja Helen Kvitne (32) changed her GP because she experienced being badly treated. It was all about her weights, she says. – I had a GP where I could go in and cut off my arms. Then she would say I had to lose weight, because then my arms would grow back. She says she has many stories of encounters with the healthcare system. – My doctor never had the right size of the mat that goes around the arm to measure blood pressure. They see that I need the large size, she says. Tanja Helen Kvitnes (32) stood in the queue for a long time to change her GP after several unpleasant meetings at the doctor’s office. Photo: Roy Pettersen / Roy Pettersen Will not touch overweight people Anja Natasja Robstad has researched the attitudes of intensive care nurses towards patients with obesity. The result was disappointing. – Many GPs and hospital staff believe that obesity is self-inflicted. It leads to negative attitudes, says Robstad, who works at the University of Agder. She interviewed health personnel at hospitals throughout the country. – They don’t want to touch obese patients, and use facial expressions to show what they think of them. The patients see this, says Robstad. Robstad will soon publish a new report on obese people’s encounter with the health care system. She believes the attitudes can be serious. – Patients become insecure because serious illnesses are not detected, because the focus is on weight, she says. – For example, overweight women go for mammograms and abdominal examinations less often because they are met with bad attitudes, says associate professor at the University of Agder, Anja Nastasja Robstad. Photo: Hans Erik Weiby / news Asking patients to switch GPs The Norwegian Association for General Medicine says it is sad to hear the stories news conveys. – In general, I don’t think this is what patients encounter when they come to the GP. Sometimes signals can be interpreted differently, says manager Marte Kvittum Tangen. She says that the doctors have focused a lot on daring to talk about weight and offering help with this. – It has also been a wish from many. Maybe the experience will be wrong because you came for another problem, but then there is also talk about weight, she says. She points out that doctors are concerned with good communication with patients. – Sometimes it’s like you don’t have good chemistry. Then it might be possible to change GPs, she says. But it’s not always that easy. Aria Diana Eriksen (21) experienced that. – I have tried to change GPs, but the GP crisis has made it difficult, says Eriksen. She also says that she has had unpleasant meetings with the doctor related to her weight. – Have you tried to tell your doctor about what you feel? – I don’t have the guts to speak up because I am rendered speechless by such doctor’s meetings. There should be a requirement for GPs to treat all patients with equal respect, says Eriksen. Aria Diana Eriksen is 21 years old and avoids going to the GP. She thinks the doctors always focus on her weight and not the ailments she comes for. Photo: PRIVAT Stigmatization and shame The Norwegian Directorate of Health is to draw up new guidelines for how obese people should meet with the health care system. – It shouldn’t be as these women say, says head of department Linda Granlund in the Directorate of Health. The municipalities must also be involved in the work. – We must address stigma and shame, as well as caring and respectful communication and reflect on attitudes towards people who are overweight or obese. Body activist Carina Elisabeth Carlsen believes the doctors have a lot to work on. – They must increase their knowledge and be interested in the patients, says Carlsen.
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Obese people think they are discriminated against at their GP – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
