The very top image in the article shows the card:
> Please don't weigh me unless it's (really) medically necessary. If you really need my weight, please tell me why so that I can give you my informed consent.
Not as "daft" as the headline, is it?
> Please don't weigh me unless it's (really) medically necessary. If you really need my weight, please tell me why so that I can give you my informed consent.
Not as "daft" as the headline, is it?
Reading this you realize that folks who are fat may not know (or don't want to know) just how many correlations there are between issues with weight and illness / disease, including mental health issues
I actually wish they'd do things like tie weight screening into things like a mental health referral for depression / self esteem etc support.
Bottom line, obseity is associate with large decreases in life expectancy and higher incidence of early mortality. Given the billions spent on other areas of health (including end of life care) there is probably a fair bit of bang for the buck in actually being more aggressive here.
Just like they want to mandate employers force shots on all staff, you might have strong outcomes if they forced employers to mandate all staff exercise 2x per day for 30 minutes (fitness / stretching etc) - monitored eating during the day to healthy diet etc.
I'm not saying this should happen, but the crazy lockdowns due to COVID for kids (massive impact, modest benefit) - they might not be focusing on areas of greatest payoff.
Yeah, and if I know I'm going to get a lecture about my weight that I've already heard, I'm going to put off going to the doctor.
What is the difference in outcomes from going to the doctor timely vs waiting 3 months?
Also, consider that the medical industry does a pretty bad job of adapting to the bodies people have, and all of the downstream data that drives. For example, you need a proper size blood pressure cuff to get an accurate measurement, but the larger and smaller than 'regular' cuffs are usually not immediately available, so medical staff just tries to wing it when presented with a larger or smaller arm.
One way to view this is as a component of bedside manner. Some patients need to be educated (and perhaps won't need the card after certain things have been explained to them). Patients with hard-earned sensitivities need a little extra hand-holding. For example, people with phobias of needles need some extra hand-holding. The doctor/nurse doesn't "have better things to do" in that case -- most have training to mitigate the patient's anxiety in that situation. Why should this be different?
From my experience, I don't get weighed by unrelated medical practitioners but when it is relevant for tracking my health. Unless there are cases outside of my life experience where people are being weighed, that context adds an implication to the card's existence and text that most of these existing weigh-ins are not medically necessary and that you need to justify each time you do do a weigh in.
With that said, as I read the article more, I can understand receiving accommodations specifically dealing with body image and eating disorders (as well as improvements with how doctor's deal with weight). How to make those accommodations while also tracking vitals important for your health is tricky. Needing to deal with unhealthy habits and unhealthy weight is a real thing. Its also a real thing when doctor's dismiss patients as lying when they are living healthy when it turns out there are other underlying conditions (like PCOS). None of this is in my life experience but I've been slowly hearing from more friends who have had to deal with this, like a very active folk dancer who eventually found out she had PCOS no thanks to her doctors that accused her of lying about her habits.