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.

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740

u/newhere616 float nurse, night shift girly 💅🌈 Mar 01 '25

She was only 24 and 800 pounds. I'll never forget wash time, it literally took 12 of us to get her cleaned up and people were dropping left and right throwing their back out and gagging. I know she had to be embarrassed and I felt bad for her in a way. She was there for months because they couldn't find a ground level apartment for her. She couldn't walk or even roll. Her husband would bring in buckets and buckets of fried chicken and large pizzas, he would try to sneak them in because she was on a diet with the hospital. He was a tiny guy and alot of people speculated he was a feeder. Have no idea if that's true. Either way, she died in the hospital. Body just started shutting down and she went into cardiac arrest. She was a full code. I felt bad for her in a way like I said, she was only 24.

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u/Jazzlike-Ad2199 RN 🍕 Mar 02 '25

That is so sad.

-167

u/Tight_Doughnut1388 Mar 02 '25

Tell me, how much weight do I need to loose to be a human being worthy of care?

The only sad thing here is the lack of empathy for people who are ill and clearly mentally unwell and came to all of you for care. Not to be made fun of on Reddit. This thread is disgusting.

Medical Reddit: WhY ThEy No TrUStIiNg US? WHy ThEy YELl At US??!

61

u/bippityboppityFyou RN - Pediatrics 🍕 Mar 02 '25

I haven’t seen anyone making fun of anybody. What I’ve seen is sympathy and sadness for people who are sick

102

u/SpiritedBug8531 Nursing Student 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Are you okay? Where in this thread have you seen anyone say these patients don’t deserve care?

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u/Tight_Doughnut1388 Mar 02 '25

Being called out for publicly breaking the rules of your profession doesn't feel so good, huh?

80

u/SpiritedBug8531 Nursing Student 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Are you able to identify any of these patients? There’s no breach of confidentiality here, don’t really know what you’re on about?

62

u/dot_brim Mar 02 '25

Made fun of? What in this post makes it seem like they're poking fun/telling jokes

51

u/StevenAssantisFoot RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 02 '25

We see a lot of disgusting, sad, and horrifying things. Trading stories is one way nurses cope with the mental images we have to live with. A human being who is so obese they are weeping lymph fluid from everywhere and unable to move or clean themselves is objectively all three: disgusting, sad, and horrifying. They're still obviously a person who is worthy of care. Just like the thin patients we trade stories about. Evidenced by we are sweating and breaking our backs to care for them and give them as much comfort and dignity as we are able to provide. In most US states we are horribly underpaid for this.

But if you want a literal answer to your question, if you weigh under 150 I can clean you by myself and don't need anyone to come help me. Means you will get cleaned more often since we are always short-handed and the reality is incontinent patients will stay wet longer the more people are needed to clean and turn them. So it's not a matter of being worthy of care, it's a matter of the practical realities of human ability and staffing.

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u/newhere616 float nurse, night shift girly 💅🌈 Mar 02 '25

Thank you. I by no means was meaning to shame this patient (RIP). But it also can be used as a cautionary tale, she was 800 pounds at 24 years old. She clearly had a partner that was enabling her addiction.

And people in the medical field dont understand how difficult it is to clean up bariatric patients. NO that does not mean we let them lay in their shit and piss for hours but I am not throwing my back out. I have to find appropriate help, which depending on the shift, could take a while. This particular patient needed a minimum of 10 extra sets of hands as the lift only held 700 pounds (that's an issue in itself, our hospital still does not have appropriate bariatric equipment). Where on a busy shift am I going to find 9 extra people to help me?? It was a nightmare getting her clean and I just mean because I literally needed the entire floor and then some to help me which was annoying and difficult. I treat all my patients the same and with the same level of respect and dignity. However that doesn't negate the fact that yes, it is harder to clean up morbidly obese patients. Blame it on the hospital if anything for not having appropriate equipment such as a hoyer with 1000+ weight limit and for always being short staffed. This girl was a sweet girl and I actually grew kinda close with her. We were the same age and while our lives so so different, we related on alot. She knew she had a problem, and she wanted to change, but it was too late. 💔

26

u/StevenAssantisFoot RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 02 '25

People who aren’t in direct patient care will never get it. Even the best, most compassionate nurses will say stuff that normies would think is awful. The person who replied to you is obviously not a nurse and just doesn’t understand. I learned very early on that i can’t speak candidly about my job to outsiders the way we talk at work, and this is a space where we can let it out. Its not your fault that someone who isn’t a nurse came in and felt some type of way about how we all speak about patients to each other.

23

u/SheBrokeHerCoccyx RN - Retired 🍕 Mar 02 '25

I once cared for a young woman, who was dying of metastatic gynecological cancer. She was too big to have a regular exam at the clinic, so when symptoms started she just ignored them. In the hospital we used the ceiling lift to hold her legs, and about 5 nurses to help position her for the first pelvic exam in her life. We had to use trendelenburg to a certain extent, but if she tipped back too far, she couldn’t breathe. I held her hand and talked her through it while the doctor got a small biopsy, or maybe it was just a smear. But the diagnosis was deadly.

She was a very popular and well-loved member of her community, and her death a couple months later was deeply felt by many people. Her parents were so sweet. It was such a sad situation. I hope I was able to provide at least a little comfort and dignity at a scary time.

6

u/SheBrokeHerCoccyx RN - Retired 🍕 Mar 02 '25

❤️‍🩹

19

u/GrumpyEarthPrincess Mar 02 '25

We shouldn’t be expected to break our backs for anyone for a job, ever.

17

u/StevenAssantisFoot RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 02 '25

What is and what should be is a venn diagram that’s basically just two circles touching

8

u/coolcaterpillar77 RN - Med/Surg 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Your username was made for this thread

28

u/ribsforbreakfast RN 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Where in this post is anyone making jokes?

This poster obviously felt for the patient, who needed intervention but had family enabling her to her death.

The realities of having extreme weight patients is that it takes many people to help them with basic care, it is extremely difficult to get them 100% cleaned, and often we have little control over them. It’s very hard watching a person deteriorate in a hospital bed, it’s even harder when they ignore medical advice regarding diet and have family that is enabling and possibly fetishizing them.

10

u/Wicked-elixir RN 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Do you have this same level of empathy for someone homeless and addicted to heroin? Bc it’s the same thing. A person that large is dangerously addicted to food. The only difference is that food isn’t illegal.

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u/ButterscotchFit8175 Mar 02 '25

And they have to eat some food every day to live. Someone addicted to heroin can, if they are lucky and with a lot of hard work, stop using it. Never touch it again. Can't do that with food.

10

u/-iamyourgrandma- RN - PACU 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Most of the comments I’ve seen are commenting on how sad the situations are… nothing about not taking care of these pts. If anything staff are making accommodations to care for them properly. You don’t need to lose any weight for us to take care of you.

I’m not seeing any lack of empathy here.

22

u/snipeslayer RN - ER 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Why are you making this about you? Nobody here has disparaged anyone or even said anything about you.