How 11 Doctors Failed To Diagnose My - A 'Fat' Woman's - Tumour

“Ellen Maud Bennett died on 11 May 2018, because she was fat. Ms. Benett had been feeling unwell for several years and had repeatedly sought medical intervention… She was offered no support or suggestions about her ill health beyond weight loss. When the root of her malaise was eventually identified as an inoperable cancer, Ms. Bennett was given just days to live.”

This is the opening statement of a study published in the National Library For Medicine, which documented the medical struggles of ‘fat women'. Only, this struggle is not with being fat or obese, but with getting a diagnosis for other diseases as a woman who exists in a fat body.

It's hard not to compare doctors and medical professionals with Gods when they do so much to help people and save lives. However, when it comes to treating ‘fat' bodies, we are often reminded that these Gods are as flawed and prejudiced as humans. I learnt this the hard way, when after months (years, actually) of pain, dysfunction, and poor physical health, I was returned home by multiple doctors who simply couldn't see beyond my weight. None of the 11 doctors I visited across Delhi and Patna bothered to see past my weight and look for disorders that weren't weight-related. Even with blood reports suggestive of something very serious, the only advice I was given was to ‘lose weight'. Finally, in Delhi, I asked a doctor, “Is it really the weight? Am I that fat that I am really the cause of all my problems?” I will never forget the face, the kind eyes, as he told me this: “No, I think you have a tumour, but maybe not cancer, we will have to get you tested ASAP”. He said this with all the calm in the world.