Obese Man Dies After 8 Months in Home Recliner

Webb's body was physically stuck to the power recliner and firefighters had to cut him from the chair to take him to the hospital. He died a few hours later, his body covered with sores and a "very bad odor," according to a police report. . .*snip*


"Everybody kept telling us, if you get here, we'll help you. We didn't have no way of getting him up, and nobody was willing to come help us," Ada Webb said. "He just kind of said, 'it's in God's hands' at that point. . ." *snip*

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34050673/ns/us_news-life/


All of us would probably be surprised at the number of people we know who are starved for help or attention and are just not asking for it. Like Mr. Webb and his wife.

What a sad story. Wouldn't there have been some type of social program that could have helped? Medicare (if disabled) or social security? Something to get him some coverage so he could get the help he needed?

I won't get into a debate about national health care (not sure how I feel about it) but I do think it's a shame that health care isn't available to all of our citizens. Could have saved this mans life as well as many others who suffer instead of getting treatment they so desperately need.

They should have lied and called the fire dept. 8 months earlier claiming chest pains or something. They'd have cut him out of the chair then and gotten him to a hospital.

When you get right down to it, you are right, txsvicki. This is very sad. Sort of reminds me of Gilbert Grape's mama.

This man's wife sure must have loved him.

Disguiseduser0308 said:

What a sad story. Wouldn't there have been some type of social program that could have helped? Medicare (if disabled) or social security? Something to get him some coverage so he could get the help he needed?

I won't get into a debate about national health care (not sure how I feel about it) but I do think it's a shame that health care isn't available to all of our citizens. Could have saved this mans life as well as many others who suffer instead of getting treatment they so desperately need.

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It would not have necessarily saved him. National healthcare that is.....this reminds me of a case that I personally saw. The woman had medicaid and was simply non compliant with her care, including education and attempts to prevent negative outcomes. Her bedsores got so bad at home that the family called an ambulance because she became septic. I asked how she went to the bathroom and amazingly....a pulley system had been utilized in order to hoist her up and a bedpan was used. She had prior visits with doctors and such, her care was free............but it wasn't enough. Sometimes people are so unwilling to do the basics, there is really very little you can do.

But it is incredibly sad. Past a certain point, shame and embarrassment take over and the human spirit is destroyed.

txsvicki said:

They should have lied and called the fire dept. 8 months earlier claiming chest pains or something. They'd have cut him out of the chair then and gotten him to a hospital.

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I agree.

What a very sad story. Reminds me of the man that Richard Simmons was helping a few years back that couldn't get out of bed. I feel bad for his wife. Sounds like she really loved and cared for him, and it's terrible he died on their anniversary.. RIP.


Gozgals

Based on my limited knowledge of Medicaid/Care, this man should have eligible because he was so obese.
Sounds like there were a lot of factors that led to his death. JMO.

That is really sad. Poor man.

Okay - I'm sorry for saying this..... but, who kept feeding him? If he could not get out of his chair because he was so overweight - who kept overfeeding him? And why? I think someone should be held accountable.

I can guarantee you (I think) if I had an obese person, confined to a chair, in my home, they would be on their feet in less than a month, depending on the amount of weight they needed to lose to stand up. HOW can someone continue to bring a person more food than they need and watch them continue to gain weight and NOT consider that their actions are contributing to the problem?

I don't mean to mean or noncompassionate. I know it is very difficult to kick an addiction of any kind and I do believe food can be an addiction. But the guy was confined to a chair - he was not feeding his own addiction. What was he going to do - go to the refrigerator himself? Would have been good for him!!!

And if he got angry - just make sure he couldn't reach anything he could throw.

I'm sorry he is gone and wish the whole family could have gotten some kind of counseling that would have helped them help each other.

Salem

Salem said:

Okay - I'm sorry for saying this..... but, who kept feeding him? If he could not get out of his chair because he was so overweight - who kept overfeeding him? And why? I think someone should be held accountable.

I can guarantee you (I think) if I had an obese person, confined to a chair, in my home, they would be on their feet in less than a month, depending on the amount of weight they needed to lose to stand up. HOW can someone continue to bring a person more food than they need and watch them continue to gain weight and NOT consider that their actions are contributing to the problem?

I don't mean to mean or noncompassionate. I know it is very difficult to kick an addiction of any kind and I do believe food can be an addiction. But the guy was confined to a chair - he was not feeding his own addiction. What was he going to do - go to the refrigerator himself? Would have been good for him!!!

And if he got angry - just make sure he couldn't reach anything he could throw.

I'm sorry he is gone and wish the whole family could have gotten some kind of counseling that would have helped them help each other.

Salem

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I know exactly what you mean, Salem. You shouldn't be sorry for saying it, because I think a lot of people are probably thinking it.

I think you hit the nail on the head about feeding the addiction though. I think this is a similar sitiuation to a drug or alcohol addict. Many of these obese people are able to emotionally manipulate their loved ones into bringing them all this food.

I agree with you that the entire family may have been able to be helped with counseling. This death could have been prevented, possibly. IMO

My 26 year old nephew(I'll call him Joe) died of complications due to morbid obesity.His "cough" turned out to be a pulmonary eboli(blood clot)caused from a DVT.He lived with his mom and brother.When his mouth turned blue,his mom decided to call for help.Joe was so large that he couldn't fit on a gurney,so therefore the gurney was taken out of the back and Joe laid on the floor of the ambulance.Keep in mind,this happened in the year 2000 before there was alot of public awareness on morbid obesity.TLC or whichever didn't have reality shows on the subject yet.When EMS and firemen brought Joe into the ER , the hospital staff discovered that Joe was too large to fit on any bed they had,he was too large for the xray table,the portable xray wouldn't fit over him,he couldn't fit through the ct scan,the staff couldn't get an accurate weight because Joe tipped their scale.They considered using the laundry scale in the basement,but Joe's condition was too serious to make the journey.Every single test that the medical staff need to preform was a challenge. A doppler(ultrasound) had to penetrate alot of fat to provide any results,and drawing blood must of been difficult as well.So,judging from Joe's signs and symptoms and his history,the ER doctors began treating Joe for a possible DVT (they were right on the money),and moved him up on the floor to a room.Things seemed to be going okay.Joe was getting heparin to break up the clo.But then about 10:30 that evening Joe said he was having trouble breathing.Bad went to worse.The staff transferred Joe to ICU,on the way he coded and went into a full cardiac arrest.They worked on him for a long time, but couldn't get him back.The clot had broke loose and traveled to the lung.By the way,this wasn't a small community hospital,this was a large medical facility located in a large city.The medical team did everything possible to save Joe's life.There was no autopsy.Joe's immediate family said no.
Joes death was a needless death.Many of my family members did offer help. I offered and was told that Joe would feel as if he were loosing a big part of himself if he were to have gastric bypass and besides that,it was way too risky!!!WHAT????Countless times my family would hear this line of BS....we really don't eat that much,it's genetic.I did get them all started on a low carb diet.It lasted 2 weeks,then I get a call informing me that this diet causes everyones blood pressure to go up.Yeah right,what ever.
Well Joe's mom asks me to come along with her to "go see Joe".I drive to the city,get my sister and we go to the funeral home to see Joe.After a short wait,we are taken into a prep? room. Joe is on a table with wheels.There is a hospital blanket over his torso with his forearms tucked.I found it odd that he had been dead 2 days by now,and had been his body had been stored in a walkin cooler instead of being embalmed.Come to find out,Joe's body was to be cremated,but his body was too large to fit into the crematorium there.They were able to locate a crematorium in another city that could accomodate Joe's body.I just remember looking at this 26 year old kid ,and thinking what in the hell????How did this happen,oh and no wonder Joe was too busy to make it to any family functions for the last 2 years....he was always good about answering his email though.I was beyond shocked when I saw the size of Joe's body.Last time I saw him alive,he was big,but now his body was like bigX5 if that makes sense.The only part of his body that was normal sized were his ears.His arm from the wrist to the elbow was bigger than my thigh.What I'm telling you all today are many facts that I haven't shared with anyone including my own siblings.My sister enabled Joe.She didn't want her boys to leave her.This might have been her way of keep Joe close to her.Gradually, he lost all of his independence.

That is so terribly sad. My grandparents are on a very low income and they have people who come into their home and help them every day, free of charge. There had to have been some type of service like that for him, I would think.

(((((k4kathy)))))

I'm sorry for the loss of your nephew.

May he rest in peace.

Salem