understand why." Her confusion was
certainly justified. After all, Ms. Pate
wasn't on a bed restriction, and she
wasn't hypotensive or dizzy. Didn't
that mean she should be up and
moving as soon as possible? A
nurse's offhanded comment
provided some context for the
staff's overly cautious approach
to her care.
"I remember one nurse say-
ing, 'You're really mobile,' like
she was surprised," says Ms.
Pate. "I think sometimes people
make assumptions because of your
weight that you can't do something,
that you can't get up, or you can't walk,
or you can't move."
If colleagues of Ms. Pate, an OR nurse
who routinely logged 12-hour shifts, held
misguided assumptions about her lack of
mobility, imagine what they think of unfa-
miliar patients with high BMIs.
Ms. Pate, who weighed 330 pounds at
her heaviest, is down to 165 pounds.
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 1
I think for a lot of people,
even some within the medical community,
obesity is still seen as a character flaw.
— Mandy Pate, RN, CBN
