"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Too many obese individuals are enabled by family, friends, and even
>> employers (if they're able to work at all), and their co-workers have to
>> take up the considerable slack
>
> That was certainly the case in a program I watched a few months ago about
> really obese people, like 800 pounds plus. They are so fat they can't get
> out
> of bed. They showed one guy's daily food intake. It was enough for a
> family
> of four for a week. Family members were not only feeding him all that
> food,
> they were cooking it and taking it in to him.
>
> When people like that have a medical emergency it takes a a number of
> emergency service workers to get them loaded onto a stretcher and out to
> the
> ambulance. I recall reading of one case where they actually had to remove
> a
> wall to get the guy out of the house.
>
>
When I first was married, both hubby and I worked in emergency medicine.
One call required calling in the local fire department with a cherry picker
to get a load out of an upper storied apartment. Seems she was despondent
and ate herself into a massive state. Then when family and friends finally
decided 'gee, she looks bad' at 700 lbs + not only could she not stand or
walk, but wouldn't fit through the door frame. Had to remove the front
windows and bring in the cherry picker. They strapped her to a security
door (a backboard used for vehicle extrication snapped under her) and they
had to slide her out the window three stories up and used automotive tie
down straps to winch her to the cherry picker. When they got her to the
ground, the collapsable legs under the guerney buckled under the weight. I
don't know what happened to her, but I do know that at any time during the
'rescue' anything from the weight throwing the basket off balance to one of
the medics losing his balance climbing in and out of third floor window
could have happened. It took at least 10 guys to lift her into the
ambulance, any of them could have gotten a hernia from the attempt. No
thank you, no gratitude, just 'do you have any snack food in this thing' on
the the way to the hospital.

I have an understanding with my dear husband, now of 25 years. We both have
put on weight, probably too much weight, but if either of us gets to that
point. I opted to being shot at point blank range to put me out of my
misery. I would have been mortified to have to have the fire department get
me out of my own home.
-ginny