The topic of equal health care for all is not a foreign one, nor is the reality that there is a disparity
in the quality of care for certain demographics. This series of eight images is meant to portray the
prejudice many doctors have against overweight and obese patients. I want these photographs to
capture the experiences of someone who is/was obese, with a multitude of health issues, and has
been told the only solution is to lose weight; but the reality is that something else may be the
cause and it may have severe consequences.
As a very active teenager, I had high blood pressure issues
that did not make sense given that I was very healthy. As a young adult, I rapidly gained 40 lbs
within 3-4 months which, again, did not align with my current lifestyle; eventually, I became
diabetic. Throughout all of this, even as a child, I was told to lose weight and everything would
be fixed; every doctor ignored me and the facts that proved this was abnormal. By the time I was
21, I was regularly in the ER due to the above issues, where a CT scan revealed a tumor on my
adrenal gland. This tumor, the cause of my ever-growing list of medical issues, was also
cancerous. I had cancer and no doctor previously had even considered something like this might
be happening. I was dying because of their prejudicial negligence.
