NAAFA-Declaration of Health Rights

Re-published with permission from NAAFA, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

WHEREAS, fat people often suffer discrimination in the health care delivery system; and
WHEREAS, fat people deserve the same level of health care services available to non-fat people,
BE IT RESOLVED that the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Inc. adopts the following Declaration of the Rights of Fat People in Health Care:

To non-discrimination in the health care system due to weight size or illness category;
To have quality medical care, social services, and adequate physical accommodations/equipment/testing facilities in the health care setting;
To have full explanation of all health procedures; to help choose the modality of treatment; and to refuse treatment (including calorie-restrictive diets);
To have an advocate, either an individual or organizational representative of our choice, to ask questions for us, to listen to what we cannot hear; and to be with us;
To refuse participation in weight loss programs of all kinds, including diets, surgery, aversive psychological conditioning, and chemical regimes, without jeopardizing access to other treatment and care;
To adequate and appropriate analgesia and anesthesia when necessary in the opinion of the patient;
To freedom from ridicule, coercion, and harassment from all care givers in the health delivery system;
To be treated by individuals who are accurately informed about the latest research in the areas of bariatrics, nutrition, metabolism, and genetics with regard to "obesity";
To privacy and confidentiality of all medical records.

By Lynn Meletiche, October, 1988

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