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Housing agency works to accommodate 772-pound tenant
Cleveland.com ^ | 11/17/03 | The Associated Press

Posted on 11/17/2003 9:53:58 AM PST by mansion

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The city's public housing agency is trying to resolve a lengthy dispute by accommodating the needs of a 772-pound tenant immobilized by her weight.

Carmen Bowen, 44, has been involved in a two-year dispute with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority over how much work must be done to help her move around her apartment.

The agency is about to provide her with a handicapped-accessible apartment with extra space to allow an oversized wheelchair to turn. Bowen lives with her 19-year-old son and a caregiver.

Still, Bowen filed a discrimination complaint, saying the agency took too long. Housing officials responded that the agency went well beyond what federal disability law requires at a cost of about $15,000.

"Her special condition requires special equipment," acting Executive Director George Phillips said last week.

The modifications include removing doors and walls, installing an automatic door operator and panic device, demolishing the existing bathroom and installing a special shower, and putting in a sidewalk to the front door. Bowen could move in next month.

In her current apartment, Bowen can't move from a medical bed in the middle of her living room.

In August, 22 firefighters and emergency medical technicians worked for 2½ hours to move Bowen from her apartment so she could have dental work. Emergency crews had to help her back when she returned. The authority widened the door in October.

Bowen does not yet have the wheelchair. The Medicaid government insurance program has not yet said whether it will pay for it.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: corpulent; fat; immense; obese; porcine; portly; projects; publichousing; pudgy; rotund; supersize; titanic; tubby; zaftig
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To: wizardoz
I once had a bumper sticker that read "Feed the Homeless to the Hungry".
41 posted on 11/17/2003 10:40:28 AM PST by Kenton
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To: mansion
Hey, I pay taxes, I want free stuff too... let's see, yesterday I was angry at my dogs... can I get a free trainer??? Um, I need beer and a nice bottle of wine because right now I am too sober... I need the gov. to by me some booze!! And I want some movies to watch because I am bored...does that mean I have ADD???
42 posted on 11/17/2003 10:43:31 AM PST by Porterville (Liberals practice Soft-Nazism)
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To: mansion
Seems to me that it would be cheaper to do the old, "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come the mountain," trick.

Send the dentist there.

43 posted on 11/17/2003 10:45:39 AM PST by HIDEK6
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To: mansion
Her caregiver must prepare and give her food and even help her sit on a bedpan. ... "Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity," Turner said.

Seems to me Ms. Lardass is the one who's treated herself with utter disrespect through the abuse she's inflicted upon her body. Exactly how much dignity is allotted a fat person plopped on a bedpan, anyway?

44 posted on 11/17/2003 10:45:56 AM PST by mountaineer
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To: mansion
I wasn once taught that a sedentary person needs 30 calories per kilo of body weight to maintain the weight. So a sedentary 70 kilo person needs to consume 2,100 calories. This 350 kilo woman therefore consumes 10,500 calories per day just for maintenance. Who can imagine eating that much day after day.
45 posted on 11/17/2003 10:46:46 AM PST by jalisco555 (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.)
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To: mansion
I cannot imagine being so big that you couldn't get through a door. I can't even picture it!
46 posted on 11/17/2003 10:50:05 AM PST by sweetliberty ("Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.")
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To: jalisco555
In her current apartment, Bowen can't move from a medical bed in the middle of her living room.

Since she can't go to the kitchen this amount of food must be brought to her everyday. She has had alot of help to get to this point.
47 posted on 11/17/2003 10:54:39 AM PST by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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To: DCBryan1
I bet the lard ass breaks a sweat just having a bowel movement.


Not to mention the porcelain!
48 posted on 11/17/2003 11:00:19 AM PST by kaktuskid
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To: calljack
She has had alot of help to get to this point.

I suspect she is a very demanding person in all aspects of her life. Her "caregivers" probably just keep feeding her since it's no doubt easier than fighting with her over her food intake.

49 posted on 11/17/2003 11:02:22 AM PST by jalisco555 (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
"Now if she sued Medicaid for a gastric bypass surgery,"

Problem with that is that they won't do them on someone that heavy because of the added risks involved. She would have to lose quite a bit of weight first.

50 posted on 11/17/2003 11:03:51 AM PST by sweetliberty ("Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.")
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To: mansion
Maybe her 19-year-old son should get a job and pay for all these "necessary" improvements to the apartment (or is he also disabled through excessive caloric intake?).
51 posted on 11/17/2003 11:07:26 AM PST by mountaineer
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To: mansion

Hmmm, we could save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of the life of this miserable pile of obese pig dung if we cut 3 tines off of her fork and drilled a hole in her spoon.
52 posted on 11/17/2003 11:09:31 AM PST by richtig_faust
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To: MediaMole
"he considered...doughnuts to be vegetables"

You mean doughnuts AREN'T vegetables? Uh oh...

53 posted on 11/17/2003 11:15:14 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: MEGoody
She's wrong to file the complaint. But at person doesn't get to 772 pounds by 'overeating'.

Then how did she do it? Skin grafts?

54 posted on 11/17/2003 11:15:28 AM PST by Old Professer
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To: wizardoz
Hey! I have a modest proposal....

BWAAHAAAAHAAA!

55 posted on 11/17/2003 11:16:40 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: Old Professer; MEGoody
She's wrong to file the complaint. But at person doesn't get to 772 pounds by 'overeating'.

Then how did she do it? Skin grafts?

If you say "glands", I'll scream!

56 posted on 11/17/2003 11:19:12 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: mansion
Can you say D I E T?
57 posted on 11/17/2003 11:21:45 AM PST by Die_Hard Conservative Lady
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
i can't help but wonder (this will be vile and tasteless) about the size of her toilet facilities and the waste therein deposited (on numerous daily visits).
wouldn't it be elephantine?
58 posted on 11/17/2003 11:22:18 AM PST by contessa machiaveli
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To: mansion
What sise burka does she wear? Or does she just wrap herself in a pup tent?

.

59 posted on 11/17/2003 11:27:31 AM PST by GeekDejure (<H3> Searching For The Meaning Of "Huge" Fonts !!!</H3>)
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To: sweetliberty
Perhaps liposuction, then? It would certainly be less expensive than trying to accomidate her at her current girth.
60 posted on 11/17/2003 2:04:47 PM PST by Dimensio (The only thing you feel when you take a human life is recoil. -- Frank "Earl" Jones)
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