I am seething in rage right now. The mother of my best friend has been suffering from chest pain and shortness of breath for weeks. She has been to the emergency room 2 or 3 times a week, several times in an ambulance, convinced that there is something major wrong because it feels like a bag of bricks was dropped on her chest and she can’t get any air.

But instead of treatment- she gets treated like shit. The ER cardiologist refused to see her because “she’s just fat”. The woman is not a sylph, but she’s smaller than me and even if she was fat that doesn’t mean she deserves a heart attack.

She has finally gotten an appointment with a cardiologist on her health plan (Kaiser- so you know it sucks) and guess who the cardiologist is. It’s the ER guy who thinks she’s just too fat. They are going to run a bunch of tests but they aren’t sure they can get accurate results because her “boobs are too big”.

What the FUCK!!!!

Last I checked, half the population has boobs. If you can’t design a test that accounts for the fact that half the population has these things on our chest then you’re an idiot and a sexist.

You think it might be treatment like this that explains the wicked disparity between heart attack rates in men and women.

If they weren’t 1200 miles away I’d be in that doc’s office making him cry (I’ve got experience with that- I fought with my mom’s docs for about 15 years).

Instead all I can do is look shit up on the internets. It’s hard to be effect righteous anger from a distance.

Any random readers suggestions much appreciated. I know lungs, mental illness, and some other stuff from mom, but hearts are a mystery to me.