Obese Woman Dragged From Home, Hauled Away After Death

In some cases destroying the property may be necessary to rescue a living person, but I think it's less appropriate in a body recovery. Can you really justifying spending several thousand dollars to open a few walls and costing the family/property $10,000+ in repair
costs just to prevent dragging a body?
 
Aidey said:
In some cases destroying the property may be necessary to rescue a living person, but I think it's less appropriate in a body recovery. Can you really justifying spending several thousand dollars to open a few walls and costing the family/property $10,000+ in repair
costs just to prevent dragging a body?
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Exactly. Have you looked at the cost of a funeral lately? Add that on top of having to repair the hole you just made.

Also, in the case of not doing a body recovery and actually taking someone out to take them to the hospital... Would you rather delay treatment while you get the equipment and peronnnel necessairly to create a hole and then carry the said person out of a hole? Or woulld you rather roll the patient onto a tarp and drag them out? Which would be faster?

To me, dragging the patient out is a lot faster than destroying their home.
 
It probably would be quicker and easier to drag in that case Sasha. I was more thinking of people who are up on a 3rd or 4th floor and there is no way to get them out of the house without opening a wall somewhere. And in that case, K-saws FTW.

Realistically though, it wouldn't be safe at all for some guy with a saw to just start cutting. They would have to ensure that plumbing and electrical weren't going to be an issue and that they aren't going to make the structure unsound by removing/weakening that wall.
 
Aidey said:
It probably would be quicker and easier to drag in that case Sasha. I was more thinking of people who are up on a 3rd or 4th floor and there is no way to get them out of the house without opening a wall somewhere. And in that case, K-saws FTW.

Realistically though, it wouldn't be safe at all for some guy with a saw to just start cutting. They would have to ensure that plumbing and electrical weren't going to be an issue and that they aren't going to make the structure unsound by removing/weakening that wall.
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Which is why it could take too long. Some people don't have that long to wait in the interest of preserving dignity. As long as they consent to it, drag them out. Necessity must often give way to life preservation. They often know they are that big, and have come to terms with it and understands that in order to save their life they may have to be embarrassed or mortified.

People (hopefully) don't do it to be mean, but sometimes there is no other feasible option.
 
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There are some that cannot be dragged, no matter how many FF's you have on scene. Worked one in S FL. that was around 900 lbs. We had no choice but to cut the walls out of the house and use a forklift to get them out. They had to be placed on a flatbed towtruck and taken to the hospital on that. There was no way to fit them in the ambulance. That on scene and transport time was 3.5 hours!

Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done!
 
Sasha said:
How would you propose getting a very obese person out of a small house with narrow hallways and tight corners that you can not manuever a stretcher into?
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Like a seven hundred pound patient off a fifth floor tenemant built in 1920, with no elevator.

I propose you be creative.

P.S. It didnt include rolling him down the stairs.
 
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Guess i need to put this in big bold italic letters. Wow some sensitive people here. I'm fully aware of the medical condition's that cause excessive weight gain. On the other hand Bariatric surgery is a billion dollar business because it solves the #1 reason for morbid obesity, Hand to mouth disease plain and simple.




Corky said:
Typically we normally wait on scene, or have VFD remain on scene to assist funeral home if needed. Especially with the larger bodies.

As to the question on weight gain, thats a qood question. i know thyroid and a few other conditions will causes weight gain, but not to this extreme. Plain and simple it's hand to mouth disease, worsened when the start wearing the knees out and are no longer mobille. If they ant get up to feed themselves beause of weight, simply stop feeding them and they WILL get up to feed themselves and burn calories
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I was thinking about what we would do out here in the boonies if we had this situation - I think a (clean!) horse trailer, with the body wrapped in a proper manner by a tarp (not some dirty carpet) would probably be the best way we have to transport the body to the ME.

Though I'm also wondering how much those rigs racetracks have for lifting downed horses cost, and how easy they are to get. I mean, trailers aren't as expensive as a new truck.
 
What you've just said reminded me of a case in MO (I think it was MO, maybe someone else will remember this). Where a living person had to be sent to a vets office for an MRI because there was no MRI rated for her weight available any wear near. She sued for the emotional distress of being treated like an animal.
 
I honestly don't remember. It was one of those things I saw on fark and haven't given a second thought until now.
 
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