In Some Doctors' Offices, the Weigh-In Is No Longer Required - routine weight measurements drive away some patients [View all]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/health/weight-measurement-doctors-offices.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU4.tLVi.JYVrFvtCNMmO&smid=url-share

In Some Doctors’ Offices, the Weigh-In Is No Longer Required
It may be a longstanding practice, but critics say routine weight measurements are driving some patients away from care.

Until she was in her mid-30s, Xanthia Walker rarely went to the doctor, even when she needed care. She didn’t want to step on the scale.

When she did go in — to treat sciatic nerve pain or get antibiotics — somehow the conversation always turned to her weight.

“Even when I went in about migraines, the response was, ‘Well, if you lost weight that would probably go away,’" she recalled.

That changed when Ms. Walker, 40, who lives in Phoenix, found a new physician. Dr. Natasha Bhuyan rejects what she calls the “weight-centric” model of medicine.

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“When a person comes in, the first thing we do is not check their weight,” said Dr. Bhuyan, who is the vice president of in-office care and national medical director at One Medical, a primary care practice owned by Amazon.

“We bring them back, sit in the exam room, and just talk with them,” she said. “It’s a paradigm shift — if we do feel we need to check their weight, we get their permission.”

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A more recent study of 384 women, published last year in the journal Annals of Family Medicine, found that almost one-third of participants said they had refused to be weighed by a physician or assistant because of the negative impact on their emotions, self-esteem or mental health.