The weight of obesity: Linking large people to care

Physicians must strike a delicate balance to avoid alienating overweight patients while still helping them face the health risks of obesity. Part 1 of a 3-part series.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Oct. 6, 2003.

The weight of OBESITY A three-part series  Linking large people to care (Oct. 6)  Public health ponders future of children with diabetes (Oct. 13)  Lessons from the fattest state (Oct. 20)

Lindy Griffin, DO, a Seattle family physician, tries to focus on fitness rather than weight when talking with overweight and obese patients about what is often their most pressing health concern. But she also respects patients' wishes if they don't want to be weighed or discuss the problem at all.

"I document it in the chart, and I help them with what I can help them with. As we get to know each other longer, they may be more open for me to deal with that," she said.

But that relationship can take time. In the interim, she's ready to do the most she can for their health. She has blood pressure cuffs and needles to fit all, and a sturdy examining table that raises and lowers and can accommodate her heaviest patients -- including one who weighs 600 lbs. She even has a variety of chairs in her waiting room. Those without arms are for those who might otherwise get stuck. Those with arms are for those who need a little extra help getting up.

"I made sure I fit in them first," Dr. Griffin said. Plus-size herself, she knows how she wants to be treated by a doctor: with respect.

"I've been to doctors in the past who have jumped on me for being a large woman, and I don't go back a second time," she said. "But if I'm seeing somebody for a problem and it directly relates to what my weight is, I'm going to listen to them better, and my patients are going to do the same thing."

Like most physicians struggling with an ever-fatter patient population, Dr. Griffin is walking a fine line between two extremes.