The suggestion that obesity is a preventable disease has been weighing heavily on my mind ever since I read a recent article in the Hastings Center Report. The article claims to focus on “ethical, policy, and public health concerns” related to anti-obesity medications, but there is a strong undercurrent of bias throughout. As an endocrinologist who specializes in medical weight management, my clinical experience informs my understanding that obesity is almost never entirely preventable, but bias against those with obesity certainly is.

What happens when a health care provider decides that the patient is not a reliable narrator of their own pain? The Retrievals, a recent documentary podcast, explores this question and the excruciating pain that 12 women endured while receiving fertility treatments.