Here is a letter about one ladies' account of discrimination when going to a
"medical professional".

It has been kept anonymous due to her taking this matter further with the
anti-discrimination board and members of parliament.

Bad Doctor

WITHOUT PREJUDICE Dear Doctor, I write to advise you that I no longer wish to be your patient. During my appointment, on Friday September 15, I was hurt by your apparent insensitivity to my feelings, questioning of my veracity, dismissal for my views and disrespect of me as a fat woman. ‘There are no fat sheep in a drought’ stunned me; what a curious, offensive and inappropriate statement. This was however eclipsed by the strange and chilling ‘If I put you in hospital and allowed you no food for three weeks you would lose weight’. Then followed the predictable cliches and put-down lines familiar to all overweight persons culminating in that old standby the accusatory ‘YOU should lose some weight’. I asked how, knowing full well that the medical profession and the weight loss industry actually have no answer to this proving the directive to be redundant. Without knowing my background, eating or exercise habits you assumed me to be both slothful and a compulsive eater. You showed no willingness to believe me when I explained I was neither. I nearly laughed when you said that you knew someone who had lost weight by taking a plateful of food and pushing away half of it. You may well have known someone who told you that. unfortunately he had failed to add that this is an urban myth and anyone who is overweight will have heard it hundreds of times. Like most fat people I have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the carbohydrate, fat and calorific content of food. This was learnt from the dozens of eating plans, intellectually numbing weightwatchers meetings, diets etc. Where I differed from most fat people you have met is that I accept my body as it is and myself as I am. I also believed in my worth as a human being, and my right to ask questions pertaining to my health and correct personal or hurtful assumptions that are, in my experience, erroneous. This clearly angered you. I felt I detected disappointment when you said the angiogram showed only very slight coronary disease when you had expected more and I had not had a heart attack, and you did not actually know what had happened. Does this not beg the question ‘why should I continue to take six pills a day with all their attendant side effects?’ Oh I know my cholesterol is high but, I am told, not dangerously so. As for the high blood pressure I can explain that, in fact I tried to Friday.. Had I been allowed the dignity of getting dressed and sitting on a standard chair everything would probably have been normal [provided this had occurred before the mention of weight]. Instead I was perched half naked, legs dangling unsupported. on your high narrow examination couch trying to hold a tiny gown modestly over my large unfettered breast. I was far too embarrassed to be anything but hypertensive. Finding material on fat acceptance on the Internet had been an epiphany for me at last I was able to accept myself and a pleasant byproduct of this newly found contentment was the loss of approximately 7 Kilos. Unfortunately your reaction to me undermined my self esteem and my appointment with you resulted in my breaking down on the train home and having to fight tears through the local shopping centre. Once home I realised how hurt and shaken I was. Normally not a crier tears kept coming and my mood spiralled downward until Saturday afternoon when I rang Lifeline in desperation. You referred to Olympic Opening Ceremony when terminating the appointment. I thought of you as I watched it tearfully and hope you noticed my Aboriginal sisters dancing. Quite rightly these women are revered in their community and by many in the wider and whiter community. I do not share the race or colour of these beautiful women but Doctor, did you notice I share their exact physical shape. Only if you read and understand the NAAFA documentation will you understand my hurt and why under no circumstances could I continue to be your patient. I have had this information on sizism in my bag for over three months. It was there to counter any discrimination or hostility I might feel directed toward me or any other person of size. I find it terribly sad that the first I felt the need to hand it on to anyone that it should be a member of the medical profession. Yours sincerely, MAGDALA