Exploring our chief complaints

Maybe 25 times a day, I write the words “Chief Complaint,” or “CC” if I’m in a rush. The chief complaint is the main thing that brings the patient in to see the doctor. Often, it’s one of several. In my world as a primary care doctor, my patients’ chief complaints range from “abdominal pain” to “problem with my toenail” to grief, stress, or loneliness.

As I work with my patients, I often find that the chief complaint doesn’t match up with what we end up discussing. “Abdominal pain” will turn into a talk about body shame and fatphobia. “Chest pain” is really about anxiety, loneliness, poverty. An appointment to get a vaccination will turn into a discussion about politics. Toenail problems, at least, are usually about toenails.

This newsletter is about exploring our chief complaints. I’m a family doctor in Philly, and I’m also a mom, a spouse, a friend, a daughter, a reader, a writer, and citizen. I am on a crusade to make medicine more fat-friendly, and help my patients — and myself! — explore body justice and radical bodily autonomy.

Please join me as I try to figure out how to live a good life, one 15-minute primary care appointment at a time.

My writing has appeared on NPR, in the New York Times, the Atlantic, McSweeneys, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and here, on Substack. Thank you for being here.

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Please read more of my work here: maragordonmd.com

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