A woman has slammed an obstetrician who disregarded conditions she believes she is suffering from after watching Grey’s Anatomy, and was offended when treatments for weight loss were suggested instead.
The woman, who goes by Peach on TikTok, explained in a video posted online that during a video consultation she told her doctor she was likely suffering from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS).
But instead of listening to her theories, she claims her health professional started ‘going on’ about ‘bariatric surgery’, her BMI (body mass index) and suggested she might be a candidate for weight-loss drug Ozempic.
‘Medical fatphobia is rampant,’ she said.
In a more than three-minute teary-eyed video, Peach said she’d been left less than impressed by her latest appointment.
‘Normally she’s always been very, very good, but I haven’t seen her in a few months… but she asked me how all my GI stuff is going because of my autoimmune disease and I was completely honest with her because I felt safe, and I told her how I felt like my doctors were ignoring me,’ she explained.
‘They weren’t listening to me. They weren’t going through any side effects of the medication that I’m on – and one of the severe symptoms that I do experience, I found out through Grey’s Anatomy.
‘She [the doctor] started talking to me and she said “ok, well that do you think you have?”
‘I said that I had Covid last fall and that I think I might have POTS, and that I might also have EDS because my hip pops out of place all the time. I have all these little symptoms.’
But what appeared to rile Peach was when her doctor started suggesting her weight might be the cause of many of her ailments.
‘She knows I have a history with EDs… eating disorders. She starts talking about BMI and then she starts to recommend Ozempic for me. I’m getting visibly distressed on this phone call. I’m going to cry now,’ she says through tears.
The woman says she asked the doctor not to talk about BMIs with her because of ‘its history as a tool of eugenics and racism and colonialism – and I’m indigenous.’
She claims the doctor asked her what term she should use instead, but struggles to share her response, stating instead: ‘I’ve never had this experience with her before.’
It left the woman in tears as she almost felt betrayed by the doctor – and effectively fat-shamed.
‘I just finished telling her about how my doctors do not listen to me so I’m really f***ing tired of medical professionals… I don’t know what to do.
She added: ‘Medical fatphobia is rampant, even in Canada.’
Fatphobia is said to be prevalent when female patients meet with doctors, only to be feel that they are being treated with bias and dismissiveness with a focus on weight with assumptions fat women have more negative personal qualities, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Across America, politicians have been planning laws to add a person’s weight to the list of characteristics such as race, age, religion and sexual orientation that are protected from discrimination.
Several progressive cities have already started passing laws aimed at preventing discrimination against the fat – San Francisco, Washington DC and, as of November 2023, New York City, among them.
Weight acceptance campaigners reject the medical evidence of the health risks of being too heavy, and promote those who are questioned about their weight as victims of oppression, denouncing anything that sounds like criticism of being overweight as a personal attack and even a hate crime.
But Peach’s video has drawn extensive criticism online, reposted on X by Libs Of TikTok, with some saying the woman was ignoring important advice.
‘She felt this particular doctor would be “safe” because she thought this doctor would agree with everything she said & let her make up her own diagnosis. Instead, her doctor was too professional to lie to her,’ one person said.
‘If you tell a medical professional, “my other doctors don’t listen to me.” What they hear is, “I’m a problem patient and my other doctors are probably right.” In this case, it seems true,’ another said.
‘Perhaps, my friend, you think your doctors aren’t listening to you but reality is you’re not listening to your doctors,’ said another.
‘Her doctor’s advice will save her life,’ added a fourth.