In Other Journals

Doctors should be brought before professionalism committees for any callous treatment of their obese colleagues, suggests a US cardiologist. In Memoirs of an obese physician, Majdan recounted various unprofessional comments he had received from other doctors when he was overweight or obese: “Hey, hey, hey, it’s Fat Albert!” one surgeon had bellowed, while some fellow residents had asked whether his lab coats were made by Omar the Tentmaker, and another had wanted to borrow his white intern trousers so that she could project slides onto them for a housestaff skit that she was organising. This constant insensitive attitude of colleagues, who preached empathy to their students and resident doctors, seemed hypocritical; Majdan called for professionalism towards obese patients to start with physicians.