EdwardRingwald.com

You have a doctor appointment with your primary care doctor or your specialist. You leave your house early to get there on time. Once you are there you enter the doctors office and check in with the receptionist and pay your insurance co-payment. Then you take a seat in the waiting room and check your Facebook feed on your iPhone while you wait.

In due time, the nurse calls your name. You get up from your seat and make your way inside. But before you set foot into that examination room where you will meet with the doctor, the friendly nurse will direct you to a piece of equipment sitting out in the hallway and ask you to step on that piece of equipment. What that nurse is doing is getting your weight which is part of the pre-visit vitals the nurse collects along with your blood pressure and other items before you even see the doctor.

Can you decline to be weighed? The short answer: Yes!

Reasons why you don't want to be weighed at the doctor's office

The most major reason for not being weighed at the doctor's office is being in recovery from an eating disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa, for instance. If you have read my companion topic on calorie counts in restaurants according to this article at reason.com, twenty million women as well as ten million men (as of 2011 when the article was written) struggle with one form of eating disorder or another, including Anorexia Nervosa. An eating disorder is a serious condition, both physically and mentally, in which a person avoids eating food for fear of weight gain. The road to recovery for someone with an eating disorder is a long road to recovery requiring the help of a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist as well as a counselor specializing in eating disorders. Most patients are helped on an outpatient basis, but there are patients that require inpatient eating disorder help which takes place at health care facilities that specialize in eating disorders.

Other reasons for not being weighed at the doctor's office usually include pregnancy as well as fear of weight gain outside of an eating disorder. Then again there are personal reasons why a patient will refuse to be weighed as part of the vitals procedure at the doctors office. Keep in mind that overweight people fear having to step onto that scale for fear of being stigmatized due to the fact that one is overweight or obese.

Additionally, when a patient is in eating disorder recovery, the patient is taught to stop weighing oneself and to stop counting calories. If a patient sees the sight of a scale in a doctor's office and the patient is told to step on that scale, the result can be that the patient has an anxiety attack right there in the doctor's office. For that reason, this is why patients do not want to see the doctor for fear of their weight.

You can decline to be weighed at the doctor's office!

All you have to say to the nurse that tells you to step on that scale is no thanks! That's all.

Nine times out of ten the nurse collecting your pre-visit vitals will skip over that part of the doctor visit. Unfortunately, there are doctor's office staff that do insist that you be weighed and you could be met with pushback. One major justification for getting your weight as part of your pre-visit vitals is the claim that the insurance companies need them. Or, another major justification that the nurse claims that "we need it as a matter of policy."

Since when does your health insurer want your weight every time you see the doctor? Or since when the doctor's office staff taking your pre-visit vitals demand that you step on the scale as a matter of office policy? These kinds of statements are way far from the truth! And since when does your health insurer or your doctor's office staff become your legal guardian?

Guardianship is a legal decision made by a judge in a court of law. Guardianship is not a medical decision made by your doctor.

Again, all you have to do is say no. However, if the nurse or other staff member in the doctor's office continues to push you to step on that scale for your weight, there are four words that carry a lot of legal consequences especially in a healthcare setting:

I DO NOT CONSENT!

Once you utter these four words to a healthcare professional including the nurse or other staff member that collects your pre-visit vitals, that nurse has to stop immediately. However, if the nurse persists after you say this, that crosses the legal line into potential assault and battery criminal charges.

The bogus claim that your health insurance needs your weight or the bogus claim that it is a matter of office policy are many ways that your doctors office staff will do anything to get you on that scale. Other nefarious ways that you can be coerced to making sure you step on that scale include the potential of being reported to Adult Protective Services for not taking care of yourself, which is also known as medical self-neglect, among other things. Besides, physicians and nurses are (in Florida, thanks to Section 415.1034 of the Florida Statutes) mandated reporters to Adult Protective Services, among the healthcare professionals.

Did I mention Adult Protective Services? Adult Protective Services (APS) is supposed to connect vulnerable adults with services; unfortunately, APS works in reverse: To develop a case for adult guardianship when such guardianship is unnecessary.

Situations where being weighed is essential

Keep in mind that 99 44/100 percent of the time you can decline to be weighed at the doctor's office. However, there are the very small situations where the doctor will need your weight when you come into the doctor's office:

1. You are about to undergo a procedure where you will be placed under anethesia. This is a situation where an accurate weight is essential to proper dosing.

2. You have been adjudicated mentally incompetent in a court of law. This can happen if you are involuntarily committed to a healthcare facility for mental health treatment (especially if a guardian advocate has been appointed) or if you have been adjudicated mentally incompetent in a guardianship proceeding and a guardian is managing your affairs including your medical care.

3. You are the parent of a minor child under 18 years of age. There is the danger that if you refuse medical testing and/or treatment for your child then your child's pediatrician could potentially make a report to Child Protective Services and before you know it, your child could end up being taken away by the state and placed into state custody. The documentary movie Take Care of Maya (2023) proves the point of how far the medical profession can act in the best interest of the child.

If you are faced with the dilemma of having to be weighed at the doctor's office, at least you can let the nurse or the doctor know before you step on the scale that you do not want to be informed of your weight. You can also step on the scale facing rearward instead of forward, again let the nurse or doctor know of your concerns before you step onto the scale.

Edward Ringwald's view of routine weight checks at the doctor's office

Every adult has the right of self-determination when it comes to medical tests and procedures. This includes going through the activities of when you arrive at the doctor's office and the nurse collects your pre-visit vitals including your weight as well as your blood pressure and other pre-visit items before you see the doctor.

Remember: It's your body and it's your choice. You have the right to say no to getting weighed each and every time you visit the doctor. Additionally, your doctor as well as your doctor's staff should respect your boundaries and your decisions.