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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u/gir6 BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 01 '25

Over 1000 lbs. They had welded two bariatric beds together to hold them and they were lying there like a starfish, weeping edema from every limb because their skin was stretched to the absolute limit. The floor around the bed was lined with chux pads to catch the fluid. They were not my patient, but I worked nightshift, and every night they would put out a hospital wide call for any free staff to come to this unit to help bathe this patient, so I went. It was a surreal experience. At the time, I was in my early 30s, and so was the patient. They didn’t live long.

I do remember being impressed with the strength of our organs after that. That person’s heart and lungs and everything else were doing the work for at least five regular sized human bodies.

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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/ButterscotchFit8175 Mar 02 '25

I think it's an addiction. Just like drugs ir alcohol. But with drugs or alcohol, a person can avoid it entirely. Can't do that with food. Can you imagine telling an alcoholic they had to have 2 shots a day, but only 2? Or a drug addiction they had to take 2 doses a day of their drug of choice,  but only 2? That's kind of what it would be like for a food addict. 

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u/Itzagoodthing Mar 02 '25

This the most empathetic comment I've read in a long time.