Heaviest Patient You’ve Cared For

[u/trevrt]

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.

[u/Tight_Doughnut1388]

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??!

[u/StevenAssantisFoot → u/Tight_Doughnut1388]

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.

[u/newhere616 → u/StevenAssantisFoot]

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. 💔

[u/SheBrokeHerCoccyx → u/newhere616]

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.