Overweight People Are More Apt To Ditch Doctors

Going to the doctor may be uncomfortable for people who are worried about weight.

 Patients struggling with obesity can have a tough time finding the right doctor, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Patients often complain that their primary care doctor is too judgmental or harsh with them about their weight," says Dr. , an internal medicine physician at Johns Hopkins. She sees lots of overweight and obese patients who want to lose weight, but feel that their doctor isn't supporting them in that effort. Because of that, she says, patients want to find another doctor. And they often do.

That prompted Gudzune to do a to see whether this was a trend. She looked at medical records of more than 20,000 people enrolled in a single health insurance plan. She compared how often patients switched doctors. Switching doctors more than five times over two years was considered "doctor shopping," which correlates with less preventive medicine and continuity of care.

For the rest of the story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/27/186428233/overweight-people-are-more-apt-to-ditch-doctors