“That could have killed me.” How anti-fat bias can be dangerous, even deadly, for heavier patients

We live in a society that values and treats people differently based on their body size. Such weight stigma can affect a person’s relationships, career opportunities, and daily life. And when this bias infiltrates a doctor’s office or hospital, it puts heavier patients at risk. Discrimination of any kind is bad for a person’s mental and physical health, but weight discrimination in medicine can also discourage patients from seeking care, exclude them from certain treatments, and lead to dangerous misdiagnoses. Drawing from the knowledge of a dozen experts and the experiences of a dozen patients, this thesis explores the myriad ways that medical weight bias can gravely impact the health and well-being of larger-bodied people. It also asks: where do we go from here?

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Harper, Kelso

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• De Chant, Tim

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139976

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/139976