I personally know of a man who is approx. 450 lbs. Can’t get to the bathroom, can’t do anything. It completely exhausts him to try to walk 15 steps. All he does is eat. Has diabetes, open sores, no spouse, no children. Family members are ‘trying’ to care for him, as best they can. What do you do for a man or a person who is so big they can’t wipe their own backsides? And family members are unable to move that much weight to do it either! Refuses to wear Depends, wets himself where he sits, day in and day out. Has gotten 3 bad infections on the blubber of his belly laying on his legs, wet with urine. Ambulance has to obtain special chair/bed to transport him to a hospital. Lying in a regular hospital bed is so painful because of his weight and the ‘thin mattress’, has to have special thicker mattress because of the weight...Can’t get an MRI he’s ‘too big’ to see into what they are looking at/for. Can’t have surgery because he wouldn’t withstand the anastesia(sp?). You can’t stand the ammonia urine smell if you enter his house. You can’t stand the smell standing outside 4 feet from him. He doesn’t care. Wants more food. That’s ALL he thinks about. Yes, it is some kind of disease. No, not obesity, this has to be some kind of mental/emotional disease. I personally don’t think he cares if he dies. But for years, he hasn’t wanted or attempted to diet. Although doctors have urged him. They told him if he didn’t lose weight, there really isn’t anything further they can do to help him.
Have you ever tried to lift a 450 lb person? I can’t. I couldn’t roll him or lift him to wash his buttocks, if I tried, and I haven’t. Where does a person turn for help for someone like this? Then of course there’s the age, insurance, etc to deal with. What’s ‘allowable’ per the insurance laws etc. Family members give up, they eventually stop arguing, prodding, begging, and just get him the food he wants.
One further thought. If they won’t help themselves, how are their family members ‘supposed’ to help them?
Same thing as a drug addict.
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Richard Simmons, Dr. Oz or the nearest state mental facility.
An outside shot might be to apply for Social Security Disability on his behalf. It is critical to have a medical doctor's opinion though that he is disabled. It's not the money that I am thinking about here, but if it is granted, you might be able to get someone to help you care for him. Kind of a long shot though.
I apologize for the error. I thought he was a family member of yours. Still, if social services won’t help, try the SSDI route.
So how does he get the food?
Because I would leave him three meal replacement shakes per day, all the celery he wants, and he can drink water from the tap.
People like that are a real problem in hospitals. I’ve discussed this with some friends who are a doctor - nurse couple. There are special hospital beds to carry the weight, small cranes to lift people so nurses can change the linens, etc. It’s really a sad, sad thing.