The Dreaded BMI

One of the worst things about using electronic medical record for patients is the pop-up notifications that you get constantly get. Based on a patient’s BMI, one may get an alert that the pt is obese/ morbidly obese, because all health care providers must document this diagnosis in their notes. I feel it is completely unnecessary, and discriminatory towards people who happen to be obese. I am trying to be more mindful of how I talk about weight loss and obesity, but I am forced by the medical record and the powers above looking at metrics to include obesity in my list of diagnoses at all times and counsel patients, knowing fully well that asking them to exercise for 30 minutes and eat more vegetables is not a solution.

I know as soon as you open my chart you see

The inescapable alert that is the nemesis of me

The dreaded body mass index (BMI) that tells you

That I am obese, sometimes morbidly obese too

Of course you have noticed my expansive size

But the computer program has also made you realize

That I have a major co-morbidity that must make

It to the list of diagnoses, I know it would take

You a minute to note that I have been counseled indeed

On weight loss strategies, that is my foremost need

It does not matter that I am in your office to be seen

For a sinus infection, my true afflictions have often been

Ignored completely or somehow tied to my weight

And I must be the only one responsible for my state

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I am used to being judged in a negative light

But even in a healthcare setting I feel I must fight

To be seen beyond the optics of my size

It is hurtful- but few people realize

How medicine is geared to discriminate

Against obese people on the basis of weight

The BMI seems to turn blinders on for everyone

And someone like me feels defeated before I’ve begun

There are diseases associated with obesity, I’m aware

But of illnesses unrelated to weight, there is a fair share

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Invariably I am going to hear someone say

That I just need to lose weight anyway

For my medical issues to be resolved..

If only it were that simple, my problem would be solved!