Reply With QuoteLast year, the hospital I work in was featured in the local paper for taking "positive" steps toward accommodating the bariatric population. We now have oversized wheelchairs (only) and oversized waitingroom furniture. While we own some bariatric beds, we still have to lease more. The maximum weight that our regular beds should hold is 320 pounds and I know we regularly exceed that. It's pretty sad when I have to help the motor raise the head of the bed. I know this is the polite thing to do but in some way I see it as enabling. At what point do we stop? Counseling the patient and providing all available service for weight management has been carried out and despite those efforts, the patient eventually reaches morbid obesity. When will it be okay to tactfully say, "as a consequence of your lifestyle choices, medical treatment is inefffective. Beginning today, you have 6 months to reach a healthy weight or you will be ineligible for medical treatment?" Is this any less kind than continuing to coddle and enable someone into the very large grave? I'm curious, I want to see a virtual show of hands. How many of you have cared for a patient weighing as much as 400 pounds? I don't think it's rare. The heaviest patient that I had was 650. No, I'm not lying. When talking about workout routines with people at the gym, I say that one of the reasons I weightlift is because strength is essential for my job. They ask me what I do and when I tell them I'm an ICU nurse, they act surprised. Then I ask them if they could move 400 pounds of dead weight continually for 12 hours. Forget about the tubes and wires.
R
