Her: I feel fine, I'm hungry
Me: Are you sure?
Her: Yes
Me: I'm concerned because your labs look worrisome.
Her: I feel fine. I'm just a little tired.
What do you think docs:
pH 7.20
pCO2 117
pO2 76 on 15 liters O2
This is what happens when your weight equals your height?
142 cm (4 foot 8 inches)
142 kg (315 pounds)
OY.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a Charles Dickens story ...
ReplyDeleteI've met this patient, surely.
ReplyDeleteObesity is creating impossibility in this country. Such as: patients who can't get CT scans because they weigh over 375 lbs.
I've met this patient, surely.
ReplyDeleteObesity is creating impossibility in this country. Such as: patients who can't get CT scans because they weigh over 375 lbs.
Theresa,
ReplyDeleteIn some cities, really obese people can get CT scans...at the zoo. I kid not.
I really hope that having to get a CT scan at the zoo would be an eye-opening experience for the patient. When you're lumped in with the hippos and elephants, that should be a clue that your diet is out of whack.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather have my salary (000s) triple my age!
ReplyDeleteI once took care of an 600 pounder "worst headache of her life". Patient and husband could not see the elephant in the room and wanted everything done a normal sized human would have to evaluate that complaint. I kindly explained that a CT/LP were prohibited by her size. We called every hospital within 100 miles to see if there was a scanner to accomodate. We were directed to the San Diego zoo. She sabatoged the whole shift as we put other patients issues aside while trying to accomodate her.
ReplyDeleteA week later I had to answer to administration because she had complained that "we tried to send her to the zoo"
Call a general contractor to begin construction of the casket.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 2:28pm:
ReplyDeleteHere, we can no longer send patients to the zoo for CT/MRI. Some 600lb-er got offended so now it is off the table entirely.
See what I did there?
This is a vile, unprofessional, ill-informed post and I cannot believe any health care professional would find this attitude acceptable, let alone humorous. I feel sorry for patients that come under your care.
ReplyDeleteFor Anon 5:08pm,
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do you expect docs to think when so many people are now so grossly obese that rendering them standard medical tests poses an inordinate amount of work? To me it's a sign that this nation needs to get up off their collective behinds and put down their forks a little sooner. It's not that hard to figure out. And before you go off thinking I'm some size 2 belittling the "fatties", I'm not; I'm one of them who's trying to fix it by changing how I look at food and getting some regular exercise. It isn't easy, but I can certainly see HH's point. It's not just the obesity that's killing us, it's the degree to which we've collectively allowed it to get out of hand. Maybe all the "labor-saving" devices technology has brought aren't as fantastic as we originally thought... And HH is not the first doc to express these sorts of thoughts in the blogosphere. In fact, more of them should say something to patients in real life before it gets to this extreme. When you're so heavy you have to be weighed with a scale designed for large animals, your health is in serious jeopardy. No one can convince me otherwise.
Last anon - exactly who around here is laughing?
ReplyDelete"This is a vile, unprofessional, ill-informed post and I cannot believe any health care professional would find this attitude acceptable, let alone humorous. I feel sorry for patients that come under your care."
ReplyDeleteNobody is laughing, but you sure sound defensive. It's a fact that you are morbidly, morbidly obese if the only CT scanner that will accept your adiposity was one designed for pachyderms.