General Discussion

It didn’t even matter what the scale said—almost every damned patient from the ER to specialists’ offices was declared “obese” or “morbidly obese.” A woman 5’ 7” and 135 lb? Obese. Someone 5’ 10” and 160? Morbidly obese.

This was especially bad before HIPAA because they had pages and pages of “funny” abbreviations and acronyms to describe patients, especially in the ER, which is deadly dull much of the time. 4F was popular—fair, fat, 40, and female), BMW (bitch, moan, and whine), CTD (circling the drain), DBI (dirt bag index: # of tattoos x # of missing teeth = # of days since last bath), etc.

Now, that’s all history—at least on paper. Can’t give legal ammunition for a lawsuit now that patients can demand to see their medical records.

Except that the concept of obesity is still something most docs just can’t wrap their head around. It’s no wonder people avoid appointments to avoid the scale.

Of course, that’s changing now that GLP-1 drugs are becoming popular to lose weight without trying (note: the effects don’t last when you stop these very pricey drugs, and you lose as much muscle mass as fat). Now, it seems that every damned one wants a script for these overpriced miracle drugs, so they are running to their PCPs like crazy—and demanding a diabetes diagnosis so their insurance will pay for them. *eyeroll*