Medical Treatment for the Big and Tall

Big and tall people have special challenges when searching for medical assistance, especially if you are obese. One of the first challenges is to find a doctor who does not have a natural tendency to attribute all that is wrong with you to your weight. Another challenge is to find a doctor that is trying to force you to make decisions about your weight that you are not comfortable with. For example, the doctor should not assume that prescribing diet pills, (or any prescription with a side affect of weight loss) or advising weight loss surgery is automatically in your best interest.

What to Look for in a Doctor

Now this is by no means a complete list, but these are the obvious things they should have.

Waiting room - Chairs with arms and a lack of couches are a sure sign that the doctor is not size friendly. With over 2/3rds of the populace in the United States overweight or obese, a doctor should be able to make accommodations.
Scale - A doctor that is size friendly should have a scale that weighs up to at least 600 pounds. We understand that weighing in can be traumatic for some, and it should be made clear to the doctor if you do not want to be weighed. But if you are having an annual physical, you should be weighed and they need to have the equipment.
Exam room - The size friendly doctor will have an exam table that accommodates your weight. Wooden framed tables and chairs with arms are a bad sign.
Equipment - A size friendly doctor's office will have equipment that accommodates your size. Extra large blood pressure cuffs (and know that they need to be used with you, smaller cuffs of a large person can give results of higher blood pressure), step stools to assist with getting on exam tables and urinary hats available for urine samples are all example of items a doctors office should have.
Knowledge of size friendly hospitals - Your physician should know where you can get testing and adequate care in the event that you need it.

Being Proactive in Your Medical Care

You should also endeavor to establish ground rules with an introductory meeting. Let a doctor what your health goals are. You may be perfectly fine with being overweight. The last thing you want to hear is a doctor that is pushing diets and telling you that your weight is the cause of all of your problems. Communicate that. Don't be averse to the truth, for instance, if you are diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, then obviously losing weight is going to be a way of controlling it. But if you break your arm, you don't want a physician that advises you to have gastric bypass due to it. Also, when you tell the prospective physician of your boundaries, make sure he informs the staff of this (for example, if you do not want to be weighed every visit, the nurses that work there need to know that since they are the ones who usually do this.)

And don't be afraid to ask for things. The Americans with Disabilities Act has been substantially expanded for 2009. And the morbidly obese are covered under this. You have the right to ask to be accommodated, and they have a duty to make reasonable accommodations.

What to look for in a hospital

A hospital should have similar features to a size friendly doctor's office. Chairs without arms, couches, high capacity scales, sturdy exam tables, extra large blood pressure cuffs, etc should go without saying. But in addition to that hospitals should have:

Staff that is knowledgeable about the needs of overweight/obese persons
Attending physicians that do not prescribe a diet as a cure for all issues (a broken arm does not call for an 1800 calorie a day diet)
Attending physicians that will interact with your primary care physician
High weight capacity CT Scan, PET Scan and MRI machines
Extra Large Beds (The industry calls them big boy beds) normal size beds do not accommodate anyone over 300 pounds. If they don't assign you one, ask for it.
The hospital rooms should have bathrooms with toilets that are not braced to the wall. A high weight capacity toilet will have a floor base.

Once again, this list is not all encompassing, but is a good start to gauge whether the hospital is size friendly.

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