[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.

[jim35]

..."The people whose job it is to care for people, a lot of them have the attitude, `You deserve it.' Right now, people with substance abuse issues get more respect and better health care treatment..."


As a nurse, I can explain that one: we don't have to herniate our own discs lifting the huge, massively heavy buttocks of substance abusers. We may not feel that they are morally superior to the super-obese, but by gosh at least they're lighter! Try lifting some 500+ pound patient off the floor sometime, or cleaning them up, or transferring them to a bed from a stretcher... tell me you wouldn't complain!

[raybbr]

Amen to that! My wife has back problems from moving around these patients. She tells me of the same problems all the time. Then the patients cry when they realize it takes four male orderlies to turn them.

Why our society can't see the health risks, not to mention the abnormal strain obesity is and will pose to our national health is beyond me.

[RepubMommy]

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.

I couldn't agree more. I'm an RN too and can't say what I really feel when one of these 300 pounders asks me to "give them a boost" up in bed. I'm 5'2 and 108 lbs soaking wet. Also too young to have a lifelong back injury. All the proper body mechanics in the world is not going to be able to save your back with these heavy weights. Too early in the morning to comment on my experiences with rotted flesh, lol.