Hospitals challenged by obese patients

The Charleston Post and Courier ^ | July 28, 2002 | SARAH LUNDY

[SouthernFreebird]

"I was afraid to be humiliated,"

Come on now, weighing 500 + pounds has to be humilating in itself.

[RWG]

"I was afraid to be humiliated..."a little late for that.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Somebody I work with told me about a grossly obese woman she knows who had to go to the hospital emergency room with a terrible pain under her breast.

Upon examination, a very decayed and moldy Twinkie was located in the painful spot- apparently she had been lying on the couch munching on the Twinkie, it somehow found its way to the place under her breast, she fell asleep and forgot all about it. A few weeks later, she began feeling the pain and subsequently the missing snack was located.

Thought you'd appreciate that. Its a true story, BTW.

[nevergore]

Oooohhhh....Bad mental image.....
NeverGore :^)

[Judith Anne]

Quigley, it isn't just a matter of making the room bigger. You have to move the O2 supply pipes, the suction supply pipes, conform to multiple costly safety regulations--the beds alone are hugely expensive, remember they are electric beds with specially constructed mattresses that can take the weight...the hospital beds have brakes, can raise or lower the head and foot (most of them cost about the same as a really nice automobile) then, if the beds are rated at 1000 lbs, how do you get the patient's weight? We've used the freight scales before...how do you transfer the patient? Your standard Hoyer lift just will not take the load.

[MagnoliaMS]

LOL, Ditter! Me, too!

[FITZ]

I blame my excess weight on freeping

Oh oh ---will there be a lawsuit?

[kitkat]

"If it cost $240,000.00 to change 4 standard size rooms into 2 large rooms I
think somebody is being ripped off big time. I smell kickbacks."

I'm glad you said that. I was wondering the same thing.

[Bill Rice]

"With the growing obesity epidemic, how can hospitals better accommodate severely overweight patients?"

Use giant diapers and hose them off as needed.

[Siouxz]

"I was afraid to be humiliated," she said.

Obviously not so afraid as to actually STOP EATING SO MUCH!!! I haven't been nearly as heavy as these people, but I was very obese and depressed. I can understand the spiral of feeling bad because you eat and eating because you feel bad. I've been there.
But when I started having to sqeeze my fat butt into the rides at the amusement park and having trouble at a booth in a restaurant, I did something about it. In six months I have lost 70 pounds, I can jog three miles, and my 2X clothes have been traded for 16s. I still have a way to go, but at least when I'm out in public I don't feel as if everybody's staring at me. I don't have a lot of sympathy for their "self-esteem" issues.

Also, I can only assume that the costs to modify the hospitals to accommodate these people are only going to be passed on to the obese who utilize them? HA! My increased medical bills will be to pay for someone's lack of self-control.

[altura]

I am thrilled at the glorious and spectacular lack of compassion on this thread.

[Ditter]

Sue FR? Never, its to much fun, but I am looking to sue someone over the 95+ temperatures. Global warming, donch know. wink wink

[altura]

What size, before the stores helped our self-esteem by changing 22, 24 etc to 1x, 2x, anyway what size in the old sizes does 2x compare to?

[Conservababe]

In the hospital where I worked, we admitted a woman weighing over 1000 lbs. No, I am not kidding. Her family brought her to the ER in the bed of a pick-up truck. It was easier for the ER team to just evaluate her there, instead of trying to transport her into the facility. When they determined that she must be admitted, she was taken to her room on a large cart used on the loading dock. Maintanence hurried to weld two hospital beds together, but this hardly contained her, actually. She was a real challenge to nursing as she needed at least four people to put her on a bedpan. You might wonder how her true weight was determined, as most hospital scales do not register that much weight. Simple. She was taken down to the laundry room and weighed on the scale there. My Respiratory Therapy department was on pins and needles worrying that she would Code Blue. You see, we would have had to rent a special ventilator used for vetinary support of large animals if she required mechanical ventilation. Thank goodness, she was discharged after a weeks stay.

[altura]

Hey, I've started walking at the mall.

I prefer the outdoors, but not at 100 degrees.

You can do that too.

You do have a mall, don't you?

[Siouxz]

I was wearing 24s, and they were getting tight. BTW, I just tried on my old jeans and I can pull them right off without unbuttoning or unzipping them. What a great feeling!

[altura]

My niece has just done the same thing. I am so proud of her. You wouldn't believe how good she looks.

She was always pretty and well-proportioned and she was not fat as a young girl, but somehow she managed to put ten pounds a year on, and well in ten years,you know what happens.

She looks great now ... almost to goal!

Congrats to both of you.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Sorry, but most obesity is entirely preventable. The percentage of people who are obese because of conditions beyond their control is so miniscule as to not warrant mention.

I will be starting nursing school in September and am not looking forward to dealing with these people. Plenty of people would like to spend their lives feeding their faces with wild abandon but make the choice to practice self-control and restraint- as we can see, the consequences of a lack of self-discipline doesn't only affect the obese person. There are hundreds of support groups, weight lost centers, diets, etc. to help overweight people get to and maintain a healthy weight.

It doesn't faze you that one reason the cost of your medical care is skyrocketing is due to the fact that more and more people refuse to take responsibility for themselves and control their food intake? It bothers me a great deal. Obesity, smoking related diseases, STDs- all preventable and all producing costs that are passed on to those of us who practice self-restraint. I for one really resent the fact that I have to pay for these people.

[FITZ]

I have compassion for them ---I think it must be pretty awful to be that overweight and I'm sure most don't enjoy it. I think parents do have to be careful when raising their kids to not associate food with love and teach healthy eating from the start.

I have compassion for alcoholics also but it's the same thing----only they can do something about it and some will once they know how.