The Last 'Acceptable' Prejudice

So it turns out patients aren't the only ones that some doctors are willing to treat as "less than" due to weight. (Reference Size Prejudice is Alive and Well, Part 2.) Who else do they turn their prejudice on? Each other.

Source: philly.com

Joseph Majdan, MD, FACP, is Assistant Professor Clinician Educator and Director, Professional Development at Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia, PA. He was, by his own admission, obese for most of his life, including during his medical training. After he lost a large amount of weight and kept it off for almost a year, he wrote an essay for the Annals of Internal Medicine on the cruel treatment he received at the hands of fellow students and even teachers.

Read Dr. Majdan's essay here.

The heaviness of my heart when I heard what he endured could hardly be overstated. The levels of cruelty and unprofessionalism are beyond mind boggling.

Dr. Majdan, who in a philly.com article calls obesity "the last . . . prejudice openly accepted by society," "just kept quiet [in the past] when doctors said things he found hurtful. He admired doctors so much that he took their criticism to heart." But "[h]e plans to speak up now. 'Sometimes we have to teach other people how to treat us,' he said. 'From now on, I call them on it.'"

Also, according to the article, as part of his role as director of professional development, he works with medical students who are having interpersonal problems. One hopes that through that work he is instilling greater sensitivity in the next generation of medical professionals.