Obesity Reduces Diagnostic Accuracy
Obesity is a huge problem for doctors, not just in terms of the health implications. Diagnosis is also more difficult. Physical examination is hampered by the think layer of fatty tissue. Now even radiological diagnosis is said to be less accurate.
I had a few “memorable” encounters with morbidly obese patients when I was an Anaesthetic Senior House Officer in Wales.
 The first was a lady who suffered from severe depression and ate herself to the point where she could not get out of bed. She ended up breaking her leg (can’t remember how) and needed surgical fixation.
She was too large to fit onto the standard operating table. Fortunately the obstetric delivery bed was able to take her weight. She was admitted to the intensive care unit after the operation so as to ensure she didn’t stop breathing when she was asleep.
The other lady needed an epidural for labour. When I saw how huge she was, I freaked and ran for a consultant’s help. I was in Swansea’s Singleton Hospital then, and I had only just started doing labour epidurals.
My consultant struggled to get an epidural in, and eventually succeeded. The midwives spent ages after that trying to find the foetal heart again. They eventually got worried and decided to call the obstetricians in to do a caesarean section.
The baby was stillborn.
No one knew when the baby had died. Monitoring was just so difficult because of her weight.
Morbid obesity is just such a disaster. Find the help. Lose the weight. Regain health. Your life depends on it.