Woman sues hospital overweight shaming

A woman and first-time mother allege body shaming by medical staff led to severe anxiety and a traumatic birth.

Transcript

00:00When Emily first found out she was pregnant, it was one of the happiest times of her life.

00:07But it ended up being one of the worst.

00:09I wasn't expecting to be treated so poorly and made to feel like not only a terrible

00:14mother but also just like this horrible, disgusting, like gross woman for having a baby.

00:23As a size 14 to 16, she considers herself an average sized Australian woman, but doctors

00:29said her BMI or body mass index was too high and that she would get gestational diabetes

00:34preeclampsia and need to be induced early.

00:38Because of the way that she treated me in terms of talking about the risks and essentially

00:42implying that they would inevitably happen to me, I considered an abortion and terminating

00:46the pregnancy.

00:47She's now taking legal action, claiming mistreatment for the duration of her pregnancy contributed

00:53to a traumatic birth and near-death experience.

00:56The ABC has heard from more than 100 women who have faced weight stigma in medical settings.

01:02Every woman felt judged by the size of their body and the standard of care they received

01:06as a result.

01:07A comment from her midwife left Ballarat naturopath Louise Cork in tears during her second pregnancy.

01:14You can't feel your baby move because you're too overweight, you're fat.

01:17I left that hospital that day crying and made to feel like I was failing my baby.

01:23When you walk through the doctor's door, your weight or your BMI is the least interesting

01:27thing about you.

01:28Dr Fiona Willer says BMI is an outdated measuring tool.

01:32Because that doctor can order more investigations to actually find out what you as a person

01:37rather than you as a risk category have potentially in store for you.

01:43The Australian Medical Association didn't answer questions from the ABC specifically

01:47about weight shaming in medical settings, but says obesity is a very important health

01:53issue that needs to be tackled.