[jessaustin]

I also have health care professionals in my family, and I've heard the phrase "shit through a pipe" used to refer to patients on multiple occasions. Doctors want to help, but primarily because helping is part of their job. If some aspect of a patient's situation makes the job harder, doctors respond just like anyone else does. They don't inherently care more about their customers than e.g. the wait staff at a restaurant.

ISTM that many of the complaints of fat people echo those of elderly people. The medical community has somewhat responded to those by creating the specialization of geriatric medicine. End-of-life care, especially for elderly patients in pain, still sucks, but they're trying to do better. When fat people have better politics, perhaps they'll be able to pressure the doctors into providing less egregiously poor care for them as well.