Don’t say ‘fat’ – it’s as bad as being racist!

Call to end shaming of the obese

CALLING overweight and obese people fat or lazy is worsening their mental and physical health, according to a statement signed by 100 organisations.

Weight- based prejudice and discrimination is as unacceptable as sexism or racism but is endemic in society including the NHS, the statement issued yesterday said. The letter claimed that, much like at the height of the plague, cholera and Aids epidemics, the tendency to blame the individual prevents obese patients from receiving proper medical care. The team of experts, led by Professor Francesco Rubino from King’s College London, issued what they called a Pledge to Eradicate Weight Stigma. Health campaigns which stigmatise obese people – popularly known as ‘fat shaming’ – should be avoided, the letter says.

A Freedom of Information request last year uncovered 332 cases where overweight people filed complaints against NHS staff for insulting them over their weight in the previous three years. Patients moaned about language including being labelled ‘cuddly’, ‘ stumpy’ and ‘massively overweight’.

One patient lodged a complaint against Barking, Havering and Redbridge trust after a worker told her she was too big to use a portable toilet.

A consultant at Portsmouth Hospital was ticked off after telling a patient ‘people your size have become an epidemic’ and their headaches were likely due to their weight. Signatories included MPs and peers from the All Party Parliamentary Group On Obesity, Diabetes UK, the World Obesity Federation, and Weight Watchers.

The paper – launched today on World Obesity Day in the journal Nature Medicine – said that reviews of scientific evidence show that stigma against weight can cause both physical and psychological harm, and that affected individuals are less likely to seek and receive adequate care.

Instead of treating obesity as a failure of willpower, healthcare professionals and the wider public should treat it as a disease with genetic, biological and environmental causes. Professor Rubin said: ‘Often perceived as lazy, gluttonous, lacking willpower and self- discipline, people with obesity are vulnerable to stigma and discrimination in the workplace, education, and in healthcare settings.

‘ History shows us with examples such as the plague, cholera and HIV/Aids that stigma can interfere with public health efforts to control epidemics.

‘Initiatives aimed at combating stigma and social exclusion were as important then as they are now.’