Research conducted at Wake Forest School of Medicine demonstrated that many medical students have an unconscious bias against overweight patients.
Theory suggests that doctors assume obese patients will disregard medical advice, like they seemingly have with the recommendation to eat healthily and exercise (even though it’s impossible to tell a patient’s eating habits or physical activity from their body type).
The lack of consideration in these situations can lead to poor care and further health problems.
Similarly, doctors surveyed agreed they should be allowed to deny non-emergency treatments to individuals who need to lose weight or stop smoking.