uch, apparently it is now the policy in several south Florida ob-gyn offices not to see "overweight" women, solely on the basis of their weight (anyone over 200 or 250lbs*) without regard to their overall health at all.  (the article can be found here) I have heard countless horror stories about the poor medical attention fat folks receive, but rarely is care so blatantly refused.  Claims are constantly made in the media and from medical professionals about how obesity is dangerous to ones health, but perhaps those of us seen as "overweight" are having health problems because we are being told that we do not deserve basic procedures like pap smears.  With recent legislation trying to cut affordable providers of such basic womens health services like Planned Parenthood this kind of policy makes it even harder for fat women, even those who can afford their health insurance premiums, to receive the care they need.   

*and what the hell kind of measure of fatness is a simple weight number? It's worse than the BMI which is flawed for all sorts of reasons not least of which is that it ignores that muscle weighs more than fat, but really a simple number cut-off doesn't even allow for tall people!  I suppose if their argument for denying care was that their examining tables can only hold 200lbs this policy makes sense, but examining tables are fairly standardized and in hospitals they hold up men as well as women, and for most tall men 200lbs is fairly standard. I'm by no means a medical professional or a manufacturer of examining tables, but it seems like they must be made to hold more than that, and if they're not it's the problem of the manufacturer and not random women attempting to stay healthy by having regular gynecological exams!