One Rain Does Not Make a Crop–Continuum of Care to Improve End-of-Life Care for Bariatric Patients.
Care of persons weighing over 500 lbs. poses additional challenges. For at least the past 20 years, training methods, resources, and equipment have been available to meet the demands of people weighing up to 500 pounds. However, this is not the case when exploring care options for the person weighing greater than 500 pounds.
Hospital beds, magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scan beds, etc. are not usually designed to bear the weight of over 500 lbs. persons. According to Hale and others, in 2017-2018
the age-adjusted prevalence of obesity in adults was 42.4%, and there were no significant differences between men and women among all adults or by age group.
This case report illustrates the unique challenges and opportunities encountered by morbidly obese patients and healthcare
professionals during end-of-life care situations. It also categorically highlights the challenges, contextual discussions,
and potential opportunities for healthcare delivery models to standardize and implement safe, effective, efficient, compassionate, person-centered, cost-effective care when serving bariatric persons.
A 68-year-old woman, terminally ill was transferred from an acute care ward to our newly inaugurated palliative care unit.
She had many medical co-morbidities, was living alone, had no immediately
available next of kin, was not compliant with medical appointments or medications and she weighed 670 pounds.
Our tertiary healthcare facility and interdisciplinary teams were eager to serve her but neither familiar nor prepared to meet or surpass the special care needed for a bariatric person who was terminally ill and non-communicative.
Palliat Med Hosp Care Open J. 2022; 8(2): 25-26. doi: 10.17140/PMHCOJ-8-148