600-Pound Woman Dies After Being Surgically Removed From Couch

[Zuerst]

I'm at a lost for words...

600-Pound Woman Dies After Being Surgically Removed From Couch



POSTED: 3:48 pm EDT August 11, 2004
UPDATED: 5:09 pm EDT August 11, 2004


STUART, Fla. -- A dramatic rescue ended tragically in Stuart, Florida, a rescue so difficult firefighters say they have never seen anything like it.

It happened late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning at the home of a 600-pound woman who was having trouble breathing. Rescuers went in not knowing how difficult it would be to get her out. 40-year-old Gail Grinds was literally stuck to her couch and had to be removed surgically at the hospital.

Authorities estimate she had been on the couch anywhere from two to five years.

Martin County Fire amd Rescue crews faced what seemed to be an impossible mission. Everyone going inside had to wear protective gear. The stench was so powerful they had to blast in fresh air.

They tried to cut out the front door, but at four-and-a-half feet wide, it wouldn't work. They had to cut plywood since a normal stretcher wouldn't do.

An ambulance was too small, so they brought in a trailer to get her out. While rescue crews came up with a back-door rescue plan, detectives secured what had become a crime scene, questioning family members about how it got so bad.

Using planks, they loaded the woman on to the trailer, still attached to the couch. Removing her would be too painful, since her body is grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin has literally become one with the sofa and it must be surgically removed.

Detectives are investigating whether they have a case of neglect, or if it is simply a very sad story.

Grinds was taken to the Martin Memorial hospital where doctors removed her from the couch, but she died in spite of all the attempts to save her life.

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

 

[ChopsJazz]

If there were a picture attached I'd say, like many NSXers, that it must be Photoshopped.

But I guess I can only say, ewww!

 

[NSXLuvr]

another Darwin award winner

 

[kenjiMR]

eww... they should have a fat tax.

 

[PHOEN$X]

I dunno, this one is setting off my BS meter. The link now shows her weight at 480lbs, the one and only photo is extremely low-res, and all I can find on Google News so far are reposts of the same article.

 

[NeoNSX]

I dunno, this one is setting off my BS meter.

So I'm seeing...

 

[Zuerst]

Seems improbable to me as well... I mean sat in the same spot for 2-5 years without moving a thing? Somone said that they actually saw this news on fox news on TV but they may just dished this one out for the heck of it.

 

[nsxtasy]

I believe it. The link is to a report on the website for a local television station in Orlando. It would be pretty unusual for a local television station to fake a local story in which names and towns are included.

 

[satan_srv]

So she just shat her pants for 2 to 5 years?

 

[Zuerst]

So she just shat her pants for 2 to 5 years?

I guess she had to sat on the couch for that long for her skin to be grafted and became one with the couch... I'm wondering where did all the "waste materials" went? I mean surely they "pile" up after a few years.

 

[dawggpie]

wonder what she was thinking the day she decided to sit down and never get up again. Maybe there was a Friends marathon on TV or something.

 

[steveny]

wonder what she was thinking the day she decided to sit down and never get up again. Maybe there was a Friends marathon on TV or something.

I could understand if it was the day HL2 came out but a Friends marathon come on now.

 

[apapada]

Seems improbable to me as well... I mean sat in the same spot for 2-5 years without moving a thing? Somone said that they actually saw this news on fox news on TV but they may just dished this one out for the heck of it.

I saw it on Fox News as well, video footage and all. I'm not saying that it's true though, just that I saw the report and the video.

 

[dawggpie]

I could understand if it was the day HL2 came out but a Friends marathon come on now.

Wasn't speaking for me, it would probably take a Nip Tuck marathon for me to plant my a$$ on the couch for a couple hrs. ...maybe HL2, but u'll grow old just waiting for that to come out.

 

[nsxtasy]

I feel sorry for her. Apparently there was no one close enough to her to ask her about it, and to seek help on her behalf before it was too late. The whole thing is just so sad...

 

[dawggpie]

I feel sorry for her. Apparently there was no one close enough to her to ask her about it, and to seek help on her behalf before it was too late. The whole thing is just so sad...

I'm not sure if i buy that. Was she held against her will? Could she not use a phone? Yell for help? She had to have been taken care of some what by that guy. If she was just sitting there defecating on herself for years w/o it being cleaned up i think she would have died from infection relatively quickly. If you mean help her mentally, then I agree. Whole thing seems somewhat unbelievable. Fox news is almost as bad as those supermarket Enquirer magazines so that doesn't validate it imo

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I feel sorry for her. Apparently there was no one close enough to her to ask her about it, and to seek help on her behalf before it was too late. The whole thing is just so sad...

I concur.

 

[nsxtasy]

Was she held against her will? Could she not use a phone? Yell for help?

Sounds like you have never gotten to know anyone who was mentally handicapped. You should try it some time; you could learn a lot.

 

[dawggpie]

Sounds like you have never gotten to know anyone who was mentally handicapped. You should try it some time; you could learn a lot.

If that is the case then like i said, i agree, it is very unfortunate, but there was no mention of that in what i read. That would make more sense. Growing up, one of my best friends was mentally handicapped.

 

[MJK]

I feel sorry for her. Apparently there was no one close enough to her to ask her about it, and to seek help on her behalf before it was too late. The whole thing is just so sad...

It would be if it were true, I agree. A nasty house w/ a 600lb person in it who died of health problems is believable - and tragic.

However, this whole 'stuck to the couch' thing just doesn't sound right. We've already pointed out the bathroom thing, but what about food? utility bills, phone? Etc. You sure as hell don't get to be 600 lbs without being able to get to the fridge for 2-5 years.

If you can get to the fridge, then you can get off the couch...

 

[Mr.Wolf]

Laid on a couch for six years. What a way to die.

 

[xsn]

All you "skeptical" and "BS" - Go to http://news.google.com and search using the words: Gayle Grinds

 

[vintagecarman]

I feel sorry for her. Apparently there was no one close enough to her to ask her about it, and to seek help on her behalf before it was too late. The whole thing is just so sad...

So true, I hate to hear of people suffering in that way or any way.

 

[vintagecarman]

It would be if it were true, I agree. A nasty house w/ a 600lb person in it who died of health problems is believable - and tragic.

However, this whole 'stuck to the couch' thing just doesn't sound right. We've already pointed out the bathroom thing, but what about food? utility bills, phone? Etc. You sure as hell don't get to be 600 lbs without being able to get to the fridge for 2-5 years.

If you can get to the fridge, then you can get off the couch...

Has any ever seen "What eating Glibert Grape"?

 

[NsXMas]

truly disturbing

this from Palm Beach Post

She lived in filth, so large she couldn't move from her sofa, even to use the bathroom.

Inside the home, the floor and walls were matted with feces, and trash was strewn across the floors, some which were bare concrete. Furniture was toppled, and pictures were knocked off walls.

How very sad. If I could not get up from the sofa to get food because of my weight, I'd say please let me starve to death.

That house looks like it should be totally torn down...