[Princeliberty]

You know these fat pigs are making everyone else
pay in higher health premiums and higher
taxes for those who get the government to pay for
their health care.

[ECM]

I can't say I have too much sympathy here--if these people want to lose the weight, there are so many ways to do it, and with much less effort than they might think.

All it takes is some willpower...

[Tall_Texan]

Obesity is the fastest-growing major health problem in the United States. In 2000, 31 percent of American adults were obese, up from 23 percent in 1990 and 13 percent in 1960, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is partly because they keep defining obesity downward. A squatty person that is not overweight (just bulky - think Samoans and some Mexicans) is now considered obese with their one-size-fits-all guidelines that don't even take gender into account.

The health care folks know they have a gold mine on their hands with the obesity "crisis" made worse by narrowing the CDC standards of what is considered a "healthy" weight.

Part of the problem is hard to deny (just stroll through a mall sometime) but don't buy their numbers at face value. They're as drummed up as Clinton's economy numbers.

[NautiNurse]

Handling extremely overweight patients — moving them, bathing them — can require several people, when one might do with a person of ordinary size.

This is an understatement. Too bad the story doesn't discuss injuries incurred by health care workers while assisting these people with basic body functions. Finding rotted flesh and other assorted treasures under the massive skin folds is a painful task.

[clee1]

Quit using a steam shovel to feed your face, continuously, and you won't have these problems.

From Morris Day and the Time (the original rappers): When you sit down, you need two seats - extra strong to hold all that meat!

[Lazamataz]

When Mark Rosenthal suffered a stroke, he was too heavy and wide for a stretcher, so he made the jarring, bouncing dash to the hospital lying on an ambulance floor. The ride injured his back, and he felt as if his own weight would suffocate him.

Look. I'm a man of size. But the first sign you are too f***ing fat is when you lie down and you feel like your own weight will suffocate you.

ATKINS, Mr. Rosenthal.

ATKINS.

[Lazamataz]

Henry Ashley, who weighs 441 pounds, said that during one hospital stay, he fell while trying to use a commode that was too small, broke his tailbone and herniated a spinal disk. He said he spent 14 hours on the floor while hospital workers tried to figure out how to lift him back into his bed. The hospital had a motorized device called a Hoyer lift that uses a sling to raise patients — prices start around $4,000 — but, he said, no one there knew how to use it.

I've used a Hoyer lift on my mom, who is disabled. She's a little slip of a woman, though. I seriously doubt a Hoyer lift would be capable of handling a 441 pound man.

[Prodigal Son]

"And it's little things, too," he said. "Like you try to put on a hospital gown and it's like putting a postage stamp on a rhino's butt."

LOL!

[pageonetoo]

"I just cried," said Mr. Rosenthal, 51, the treasurer of District Council 37, the New York City employees' union. "


Too much champagne and caviar, steak and potatoes, courtesy of your LOCAL UNION DUES!

What a pig... I just can't feel sorry for these folks. I love to eat, but have some scales in my bathroom! I learned to back away from the table, when the scales shouted at me!

[angkor]

her diabetes had raged out of control, sleep apnea had so ruined her nights that she spent her days in a haze, and a buildup of lymphatic fluid in her lower legs

This is a very sad example of someone obviously committing suicide through overeating.

You have to wonder what demons are causing her to do this to herself, and why she won't make the requisite changes in her life to address the "root causes", which clearly go beyond mere dieting.

In fact all the people in this story are committing suicide and need psychological guidance. Their obesity is a symptom.

[RJCogburn]

from the NYTimes:

[RepubMommy]

I'm a hospital RN and can tell you that the gastric bypass surgery has quickly become a booming business. What annoys me the most about this is the insurance may cover a considerable cost of the surgery, while I my vision is HORRENDOUS, but Lasik surgery is considered cosmetic.

[Wolfie]

What kind of country do we live in, that eating yourself to 450 pounds comes with consequences?

[lady lawyer]

We used to be able to make judgments based on behavior without being called "bigots."

[gcruse]

The only 'indignity' I see here is that visited on the poor paramedics and nurses who have to handle these beached behemoths.