How anti-fat bias in health care endangers lives

Dr Patty Thille

writer

Dr Patty Thille

Assistant Professor in Physical Therapy, University of Manitoba

Dr Patty Thille

When Ellen Maud Bennett died a year ago, her obituary published in the local newspaper gained national media attention in Canada, though she wasn’t a celebrity.

Bennett’s obituary revealed she died from cancer days after finally being diagnosed — after years of seeking help.

Her diagnosis came so late, beyond the point where treatments were possible, because the 64-year-old woman was repeatedly told her health problems were caused by her weight — or more specifically, by the amount of fat on her body.

PASSWORD RESET

Forgot your password or password not working? Please enter your email address. You will receive an email with the link to set a new password.

Icon 2

NEXT LIVE Webcast

:
Days
:
Hours
:
Minutes
Seconds
Prof Brendon Yee, A/Prof Ralph Audehm

Prof Brendon Yee, A/Prof Ralph Audehm

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea – Practical Updates

Prof Dennis Lau

Prof Dennis Lau

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome – What You Need to Know

Clinical A/Prof Greg Katsoulotos

Clinical A/Prof Greg Katsoulotos

Asthma Cases

Prof Tony Attwood

Prof Tony Attwood

Autism Assessment in the GP Setting

Join us for the next free webcast for GPs and healthcare professionals

High quality lectures delivered by leading independent experts

Share this

Share this

Dr Patty Thille

writer

Dr Patty Thille

Assistant Professor in Physical Therapy, University of Manitoba

Test your knowledge

Recent articles

Latest GP poll

The government told the public that the average GP is earning $280k per year. Do you think this figure is:

Very overestimated

0%

Moderately/slightly overestimated

0%

Quite accurate

0%

Moderately/slightly underestimated

0%

Very underestimated

0%

Recent podcasts

Listen to expert interviews.
Click to open in a new tab

Find your area of interest

Once you confirm you’ve read this article you can complete a Patient Case Review to earn 0.5 hours CPD in the Reviewing Performance (RP) category.

Select ‘Confirm & learn‘ when you have read this article in its entirety and you will be taken to begin your Patient Case Review.

Upcoming Healthed Webcast

POTS – What You Need to Know

Tuesday 17th February, 7pm - 9pm AEDT

Speaker

Prof Dennis Lau

Cardiac Electrophysiologist; The Royal Adelaide Hospital; Clinical Professor, The University of Adelaide

Hear the latest evidence-based management options for POTS - a common, yet poorly recognised and misunderstood autonomic dysfunction condition in our community. Join Prof Dennis Lau for an update on POTS, who is at risk, presenting symptoms and how it can be diagnosed in the primary care setting.