As America's waistline expands, discrimination against the obese grows along with it, even among members of the medical community.
Some physicians are refusing to treat obese patients.
"It wouldn't be the first time I heard about patients being obese feeling stigmatized by their doctor," said psychologist Jill Clemence.
Clemence said many people in the health care industry view obese patients as lazy and irresponsible when it comes to their physical condition.
"And I think when you have that core belief in mind and you're a doctor, it's going to influence how you make decisions about how to treat people," she said.
A 2007 Yale study found that doctor prejudice starts when a female patient is as little as 13 pounds overweight. Men get a pass from doctors until their are 75 pounds overweight, the study found.
In May 2011, a Florida physicians practice made headlines when it refused to accept overweight patients.
Discrimination can take other forms. "A lot of doctor's offices don't have chairs that don't have the handles, so it's very uncomfortable to sit down or get out of them," said Barbara Galloway, who participates in a program called TOPS -- Take Off Pounds Sensibly.
Other TOPS patients say doctors have cracked jokes that they took personally. The result is that some obese patients avoid going to the doctor altogether.
Dr. Donna Montalto of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said doctors shouldn't refuse to treat anyone based on weight. "I'm outraged and shocked. Doctors, all doctors, take a hippocratic oath to treat any patient regardless of whether they're obese or they have chronic conditions.
But Dr. Peter Sosnow, who does not condone such discrimination, said obese women do have increased medical risks that may make some doctors hesitant to treat them.
"Bad outcomes can become malpractice even though there's no negligence," Sosnow said.
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