Whether patients make good choices is completely independent from whether doctors provide everyone with equal quality of care.

Specifically, doctors are less likely to investigate issues that can be explained by obesity than they are in non-fat people.

For example, if you have high blood pressure and you are a normal weight your doctor will probably look into underlying conditions that can cause high blood pressure. Being overweight is an independent risk factor for high blood pressure but it doesn’t reduce the likelihood of the other risk factors. Doctors are less likely to look into an underlying cause for high blood pressure if you are overweight.