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"Fat shaming at its best"

About: University Hospital (Coventry)

I was referred to this service by my GP. We have been trying to get pregnant for 9 months. First of all, you are given a 20-page document to fill in. Then you're called to be weighed and measured. Then, we went in to "discuss" with the consultant. She basically spent 10 minutes going over the information we put in the document, speaking so quickly, like a robot. My husband and I barely had time to answer back. And then the conclusion was that I'm obese and unless I lose 35 kg, they can't do anything for me. "just cut down on carbs, eat lots of fruit and vegetables!" Wow, what a great idea! Being obese is not particularly pleasant and just being treated like a pile of fat by a medical professional is definitely not nice at all. I want to have a baby and I really feel that I was treated very badly and that my request hasn't been tackled AT ALL because I'm obese. And to rub salt in the wound, we received the letter following our appointment in which there is more fat shaming. "Once Melanie has been able to optimise her BMI, we would be very happy to see her again at CRM to initiate the rest of her investigations and fertility treatment." So in other words, as long as she is fat, she won't help for her to have a baby. So in a nutshell all the staff was in a hurry, didn't really take time to answer any queries / worries. And anyway, I'm not worth being helped since I'm FAT! I already feel incredibly sad and worried that I'm never going to have a baby, now I feel so angry that I won't be helped by medical professionals because of who I am. So unless you are a size 6, I don't recommend this service because they won't be willing to help you.

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Responses

Response from University Hospital (Coventry) 4 years ago
University Hospital (Coventry)
Submitted on 16/07/2019 at 13:51
Published on nhs.uk at 14:07


Dear Mélanie,

We are sorry that your experience with the Centre for Reproductive Medicine at University Hospital did not meet your expectation.

Health professionals are advised through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to use any opportunity, as appropriate, to provide women with a BMI of 30 or more with information about the health benefits of losing weight before becoming pregnant (for themselves and the baby they may conceive). This is due to the increased health risks weight poses to yourself and the unborn child.

We will take your comments on board.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We welcome all comments - both positive and negative - as it means we can better understand what is important to our patients and visitors to continually improve.

Communications Team

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust

Telephone: 0800 028 4203

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