[Janos]

http://www2.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C50275/

Four-Hundred-Eighty-Pound Woman Dies After Six Years On Couch
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STUART -- A 480-pound Martin County woman has died after emergency workers tried to remove her from the couch where she had remained for about six years.

Gayle Laverne Grinds died yesterday, after a failed six-hour effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even use the bathroom.

A preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the cause of death as "morbid obesity." But officials want to know more about the circumstances inside the home.

Investigators say Grinds lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of her the best he could. He has told them he tried repeatedly to get her up, but simply couldn't. No charges have been filed, but officials are looking into negligence issues.

Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck. She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.

Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex, though they had seen Thomas and some children outside. (AP)

I know my destiny.

[vyper]

How the hell couldn't they get her out? A small (alright large) pully system would have done it!

[Janos]

http://www.wftv.com/news/3643877/detail.html

Everyone going inside the home had to wear protective gear. The stench was so powerful they had to blast in fresh air.

After years of staying put, her skin had literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.

[aldo_14]

I hope they don't try and sell on that couch, then.

[karajorma]

I don't know. I can imagine some goths wanting it

[Stealth]

Originally posted by vyper


How the hell couldn't they get her out? A small (alright large) pully system would have done it!

yeah but EMS and police don't carry small (alright large) pully systems with them, and even if they did, you're not supposed to move a person much.

[vyper]

Considering the circumstances...?

[Bobboau]

I don't think useing a wench to remove her would have produced better results, given that she had grown into the couch

[MicroPsycho]

How the hell could you allow yourself to get that fat? I couldn't do that even if I tried. What kind of life is that, becoming one with the couch, literally?

[Stealth]

Originally posted by vyper
Considering the circumstances...?

no such thing.  many times we've had to move someone who's passed out on a bench or someone, we'd move the whole bench.  you can do more damage moving someone that's hurt than just moving whatever they're on (bed, couch, etc.).  have you ever seen someone get taped onto a stretcher at an accident or something?  that's to prevent them from moving when they're on the ambulance and when they're being transported.  however, in her case, i hardly think they could fit her on a stretcher  

maybe a flatbed truck

[Rictor]

...how did she, ahem, use the latrine, if she never got up, thats what I'de like to know.

[Taristin]

They say she didn't get up to... Therefore, she went where she sat.

Lovely thought it is.

[Rictor]

was there a hole in the couch or something? Cause you can't just sit up 6 years worth of of ****, its has to go somewhere.

[Carl]

after farting on it for 6 years? you bet there was a hole.

[redsniper]

The worst part about this whole obesity crisis is that all the fat people are constantly trying to find something to blame their fatness on, like genes. Now I'm not saying that your genes don't affect your metabolism; they do determine how easily you gain weight. But that's no excuse to become 400+ pounds. 'They' keep saying that  a good diet and regular excercise is the solution because... it is.

[Ford Prefect]

Investigators say Grinds lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of her the best he could.

Sounds like Bib Fortuna changed his name.

[Falcon]

This is really sad that someone would spend six years of thier life on a couch constantly eating. I mean really I couldn't keep still for six seconds Im always about doing something.

I doubt the husband really did anything to help if he noticed a problem he should have delt with it in the first place just pure stupidity at best.........

[.::Tin Can::.]

That... is sick....

[beatspete]

Originally posted by Rictor
...how did she, ahem, use the latrine, if she never got up, thats what I'de like to know.

Maybee there was some sort of suction machine... like the toilet on the space shuttle.

[Moonsword]

I don't think any of us really want to know.