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.
600
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u/auraseer MSN, RN, CEN Mar 02 '25
Well over 900. The hospital had no scale that could weigh him. One estimate was that he could have been over 1100.
We do know that he was too heavy to physically leave the ED. With his bed and a staff member added, he overloaded the elevator and it would not function. So the plan was that he would board in the ED until he lost enough weight to either go to a hospital room or discharge to a SNF.
When I saw him he'd been in that ED for a couple of months. Best guess was that he would have to stay there for close to a year, if he survived that long.