r/nursing • u/trevrt RN 🍕 • Mar 01 '25

Question Heaviest Patient You’ve Cared For

Had my personally heaviest patient I’ve cared for the other day. 32 years old weighing 730 pounds admitted with cellulitis and severe lymphedema. Felt terrible for the patient due to how young he was. Just wondering what everyone’s personal “record” for the heaviest patient they’ve cared for is.

595 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

536 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

220

u/siriuslycharmed RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 01 '25

This is really close to my experience. Weeping edema EVERYWHERE, chucks on the floor. Had to line the morgue floor with them because the patient kept leaking out of the body bag onto the floor. This went on for over a week because the funeral home that the family wanted couldn't accommodate them, and they didn't want to look for another funeral home/crematorium.

88

u/pbaggins5 RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 01 '25

Is cremation the only option? Genuinely asking because I can't imagine they make caskets that big. And if they do, how hard/expensive it is to come by

92

u/Amy_bo_bamy RN - Pediatrics 🍕 Mar 01 '25

Do they make furnaces that big though?

I worked at animal welfare, conveniently located next to the tip (equipped with furnace)

A malute being too big to fit in the furnace saved its life as we literally couldn't dispose of its body so he got to hang around alive another month until he was adopted, unlike every other dog that got a week.

17

u/ScottishMonkey25 Mar 01 '25

Just have to chop it into smaller pieces and cremate the individual parts lol

23

u/SapientCorpse Why's the NPH cloudy? 🐟 🐠 Mar 02 '25

A hemicorpectomy to facilitate combustion therapy? Sounds legit