A gentle warning: This essay discusses eating disorder history, weight, pregnancy, and medical appointments. It is written with humor, but the experiences behind it were very real.
In this open letter to doctors, clinicians, nurses, and medical assistants, Morgan DiPrimo offers a few “minor tweaks” — framed as a Yelp review — for making medical appointments feel a little safer, kinder, and less like an unexpected episode of Survivor: Annual Physical.
She begins by acknowledging that providers are overworked, understaffed, and operating in a system that gives them twelve minutes to assess an entire human being. That is absurd, she says — and not entirely their fault. But she has a suggestion box.
Her requests: please introduce yourself before examining a patient’s body. Look at the patient, not just the computer. When a patient discloses a history of an eating disorder, do not react like there is a raccoon loose in the exam room. Handle weight and numbers with care — ask before announcing them aloud, and avoid making weight the opening or closing line of an appointment. Be thoughtful about how weight monitoring is discussed during pregnancy, which can be particularly fraught for people with eating disorder histories.
The letter closes not with grievance but with a reminder: the patient sitting in the room is a whole person, with stories, fears, families, and often years spent rebuilding trust with their body. A little care goes a long way.
Originally published on morgandiprimo.substack.com.
