Ambulances start charging extra for obese patients

[Cali_Democrat]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_he_me/us_ambulances_obese_patients

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 2:22 pm ET

TOPEKA, Kan. – The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn't sturdy enough to hold him.

The crew offered an idea to Keller, who was then an investigator with the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. Could they use a forklift to load the man — bed and all — onto a flatbed truck? Keller agreed: There was no other choice.

"I'm sure it was terribly embarrassing to be in his own bed, riding on the back of a flatbed with straps tying him down, going to the hospital, and then have a forklift at the hospital unload him," Keller said.

As the nation battles the obesity crisis, ambulance crews are trying to improve how they transport extremely heavy patients, who become significantly more difficult to move as they surpass 350 pounds. And caring for such patients is expensive, requiring costly equipment and extra workers, so some ambulance companies have started charging higher fees for especially overweight people.

Read more at link.

[Obamanaut]

1. Not unreasonable, and 'rec' nt

[stray cat]

2. The volunteer ambulance crew did not charge me anything - there are many good people still.

[catnhatnh]

10. Why do you read into this...

that those who transported him were not "good people"?

[FarCenter]

3. It is good to provide the extra resources so they can buy fork lifts and hydraulic jacks

So that the ambulance crews don't get back, muscle and joint injuries while trying to move these patients.

[enlightenment]

5. My sister was permanently disabled about 20 years ago

working as a paramedic for an ambulance company in Colorado. She and her partner were called out to an old apartment block - three floors, no elevator. The patient was on third floor. He was on the floor when they arrived - dead - but at the time they were not allowed to 'call' that, so they had to treat him like he was still alive. He didn't weigh that much (comparatively); maybe 400 pounds. They put him on one of those gurneys that go down stairs; got him outside and went to lift him into the truck. I guess it was during the process of raising the gurney to slide it into the back . . . anyway, she felt something go in her lower back and that it.

The damage was so severe that she eventually had to have rods and later, a spinal fusion. I suppose it might have happened in any case; at the time she was more angry because the guy was pronounced almost as soon as they hit the door to the ER than because he was so large.

[demosincebirth]

6. 400lbs?? Thats pretty significant to me

[enlightenment]

7. Well, compared to a 1000 pound person, it's not.

I guess I was comparing it to the person in the OP.

[Wickerman]

4. About 5 years ago when my small burg ordered their new ambulance

they paid the extra cash for wider stretchers and bay doors to accommodate a larger population. They didn't up fees for a select class, though.

[catnhatnh]

12. The stretcher need not be only wider...

but also heavier. The width of the doors was almost never a factor except that the rails of the stretcher locking devices (a few floor pieces of mounted hardware) would need to be moved more toward the center. Almost every rig could easily accept a 500lber through the doors...the ambulance is designed to (normally) have the stretcher loaded thru the center and then pushed toward the driver side to leave room on the right (looking from the rear) for a jump bench and monitoring equipment. In short they fit 90%+ of the population now...and moving a few pieces could make them accessible to 95% or more. But it comes at the cost of limiting the mobility of the medic treating the patient...

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Not surprised or shocked

in my ten years in EMS I only transported ONE patient who was in her either 500 or 600 pounds.

She was having a heart attack.

Well, gurney? You kid me right? IT was rated for 250 pounds.

It took ten people plus me and my partner to get her into the back of the ambulance. on the floor. I could never find a vein. My supplies were not long enough... so no they did not reach through the adipose layer.

When we got to the hospital, we had every crew member waiting, and they brought a specialized gurney... the only one that would be usable, since it was wide enough.

Oh the IV was started by the hospital staff, they had to use a central vein kit, was long enough and she made it.

Every time I think about it my back hurts...

These days my local town handles at least one of these patients a month... and no, a two man crew, or even a two man crew with a standard fire engine cannot get them to the ambulance. And a Type Three (the vans) cannot transport. That day she was lucky. I was using a Type II, the square rigs, and this was one was extra wide... and I still barely had a place to put my feet. Oh trust me that memory serves to keep me on tract with my eating habits.

[catnhatnh]

9. Been there and done that...

...to a degree. Most paid services are two man rigs and the largest I've ever seen was four on a volunteer rig-driver,two medics and a trainee....and no-unless each one was an Olympic class athlete they won't be horsing out 600+lb patients. A two man crew COULD handle about 200lb if both were in good shape, but normal protocol was for even a normal adult was to use other service personnel (fire,police, or volunteer) when available.If you look at jobs wanted classified adds the normal requirement is to "lift and move 50lbs routinely"...and that's for heavy jobs...

[Arugula Latte]

11. The rise of extreme obesity is stunning.

I remember when I was a kid occasionally going to the "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" exhibit in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. This guy was displayed as "The World's Heaviest Man." Today, that is small potatoes when it comes to extreme obesity, so to speak. If I remember correctly, he weighed 800 or 900 pounds, something like that. Today, you'd have to be a lot heavier than that to make the world record.

[FarCenter]

13. Anyone who can actually stand up is not in the record category

http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-039-s-Fattest-Man-Has-Lost-230-kg-507-Pounds-78709.shtml

Enlarge photo.

The diet that led him to 1244 lbs was:

Breakfast - 4 eggs, beans, 3-4 tortillas stuffed with cheese and meat, fizzy drinks, coffee, milk
Lunch - Half a chicken, 4 meat and cheese tortillas, salad, fizzy drinks, pasta, bread
Dinner - 3-4 eggs with ham, beans, 3-4 cheese and meat tortillas, bread or pasta, fizzy drinks, coffee, milk