Episode Details

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Note: I have explicit permission to share this story. I wanted to share it to help those who work within healthcare to see ways that they can make change, and those who do not work in healthcare to see how they might advocate.

A call came in late at night. It was a dear friend of mine and she was in the emergency room. Luckily it looked like a false alarm, but she was really upset. She had been in this same hospital for other procedures and had always been accommodated, but for some reason in the ER, things were different this time. They didn’t have a blood pressure cuff that fit her (a serious issue at any point, but even more serious since blood pressure was part of the concern that had led her call the ambulance in the first place,) and they didn’t have a gown that fit her. She is a fierce activist in her own right, but just didn’t want to risk retaliation at a time when she needed care. She asked if I would please reach out to the hospital after she was back home and see if I could get them to fix the lack of accommodation. 

I discussed this in my piece about creating size-inclusive healthcare spaces, but if you are someone who works in a healthcare facility, this could be a great opportunity to ask yourself “are there ways that fat patients in our facility are treated differently/less well than thin patients.?” Examples would include if a blood pressure cuff for thin patients is available in every room, but a cuff for fat patients either doesn’t exist or has to be found, and if thin patients have gowns that fit them but fat patients are either given a sheet or asked to try to wear two gowns.

I started on the website for the facility and couldn’t find anything on the website about patient services, so I started by calling the main line.

“I’m calling about a negative experience in your ER,  I just wanted to see if I could talk to someone to see if we can fix it for the next patient.”

I chose my wording carefully here because I didn’t want to get into the fact that I wasn’t the patient until I was talking to the right person.

The woman who answered immediately said “Yes! Let me transfer you to someone who can help”

She transferred me to risk management and, while I didn’t think that was ultimately who I needed to talk to, I left a voicemail as requested, deciding to give it 24 hours before trying again.

Later that day I got a voicemail – “this is Amber from patient services returning your call.”

I immediately called Amber back and she picked up. I explained that I was calling as an advocate for one of their patients who had recently had a negative experience in the ER, and that I was hoping to talk to someone who could help make changes.

This was our first stumbling block and Amber immediately said that she couldn’t talk to me if I wasn’t the patient due to HIPPA. I explained that I wasn’t asking her for any information about the patient – that, in fact, I was calling so that the patient could remain anonymous, so it wasn’t a HIPPA violation.

She then said that even if it wasn’t a HIPPA violation she had to speak to the patient directly. I said I understood why she would rather speak to the patient, but that the patient had specifically asked me to call as their advocate because they wished to be anonymous, and that the issue I wanted to discuss with her applied to many of their patients, not just this one.

She relented and asked what had happened. I explained the situation.

She immediately said “Can’t she just wear two gown