My Faith In Humanity Has Been Lowered.

Cold_NiTeCold_NiTe Join Date: 2003-09-15 Member: 20875Members
edited September 2004 in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Your kidding me right?</div> <a href='http://www.davesdaily.com/out.php?id=657&url=http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?s=2163373' target='_blank'>God Bless America?!?</a>

Okay I don't know if I can believe it, but this isn't the only place I have read the story. In any case here is the full transcription from that site:

<!--QuoteBegin-Dave's Daily News+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Dave's Daily News)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->STUART, Fla. (AP) -- 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.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

So am I insane or do I have a right to feel depressed and outraged by this? I mean, how did her condition deteriorate so and why didn't the person who was taking care of her do anything as far as seeking help? Is it even real? Maybe it is a hoax and I am an idiot, I'd prefer that to this being real. But I didn't just read it here however. (It is on Yahoo News as well supposedly.)
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Comments

  • Dorian_GrayDorian_Gray Join Date: 2004-02-15 Member: 26581Members, Constellation
    Old. It was on CNN a month ago or so. Posted here too IIRC.
  • Cold_NiTeCold_NiTe Join Date: 2003-09-15 Member: 20875Members
    Oh man, I miss all the crazy threads. I should really have done a search. Sorry everyone.

    Good thing Gem isn't here otherwise she'd quote my response to her outdated thread and laugh me off the planet.
  • BuggyBuggy Join Date: 2003-11-08 Member: 22400Members, Constellation
    edited September 2004
    Grown to a couch...? Please. That sounds as fake as a serious news article can sound.

    On CNN? Ok, guess I was wrong. But still, that's pretty damn amazingly hard to believe.
  • UltimaGeckoUltimaGecko hates endnotes Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16320Members
    Posted or now, how is it anyone's fault but her own?

    I don't see anything saying she was injured, mentally retarded or forced to sit on that couch in that article. So, I blame it on her until presented with further evidence.
  • 2_of_Eight2_of_Eight Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20016Members
    This is really sad. I have no idea how this happened... anyone point me to a link with more details?
  • eedioteediot Join Date: 2003-02-24 Member: 13903Members
    Personally I blame the woman for not moving her fat arse off the couch for literally a few years. But then again, she might have simply had some horrible uncurable disease, like Americanism, or White-Trash-itis.
  • MulletMullet Join Date: 2003-04-28 Member: 15910Members, Constellation
    Sometimes I play NS for such a long time, it feels like my **** is growing to the chair. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-eediot+Sep 13 2004, 09:31 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (eediot @ Sep 13 2004, 09:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Personally I blame the woman for not moving her fat arse off the couch for literally a few years. But then again, she might have simply had some horrible uncurable disease, like Americanism, or White-Trash-itis. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Woah woah woah...

    Seven posts in and already with the American bashing?
  • eedioteediot Join Date: 2003-02-24 Member: 13903Members
    edited September 2004
    Give me a break, I gave you the courtesy of waiting 2 hours.

    Besides, it seems stuff like this happens primarily in America, and has gotten to the point where it may soon become a medical disability, owing to the arrogance of the "infected" and their stubborn refusal to actually lead healthy, productive lives.

    <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Edit for clarity: Jokes.</span>
  • UZiUZi Eight inches of C4 between the legs. Join Date: 2003-02-20 Member: 13767Members
    i'm sure theres people like this in europe you arrogant stooge.
  • eedioteediot Join Date: 2003-02-24 Member: 13903Members
    So much for clarity. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • ChimpZealotChimpZealot The Elite Demo Detective Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10315Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    My brother showed me this story a week or so ago... one of the most depressing things I've ever read.
  • Marik_SteeleMarik_Steele To rule in hell... Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9466Members
    eediot and Uzi, I think you're both coming too close to insults.

    Back on-topic: I really feel bad whenever I read stories like this. It's because on the one hand I want to lighten the mood back up with a joke about hoverplatform things like Jabba the Hutt used in his older, wealthier years, but on the other hand I know that just thinking this probably makes me an ***.
  • camO_ocamO_o Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
    i am not moved in any way by this story. it makes me laugh and wonder just how many wrong turns you have to take to end up somewhere like that. my sympathy is for America, because incidents like this, although on a much smaller scale, are quite the everyday thing nowadays. i'm certainly not going to shed tears for some poor girl who denied her own condition.
  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    I have <i>no</i> sympathy for anyone who does that to their body. None. Regardless of nationality.

    Anyone who eats themself into corpulent blimp-hood deserves whatever natural selection throws at them.
  • CplDavisCplDavis I hunt the arctic Snonos Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12097Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Marik_Steele+Sep 14 2004, 01:01 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Marik_Steele @ Sep 14 2004, 01:01 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> eediot and Uzi, I think you're both coming too close to insults.

    Back on-topic: I really feel bad whenever I read stories like this. It's because on the one hand I want to lighten the mood back up with a joke about hoverplatform things like Jabba the Hutt used in his older, wealthier years, but on the other hand I know that just thinking this probably makes me an ***. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    heh it made me chuckle,


    as of story,



    Oh my... <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • BizZy_9mm_MessiahBizZy_9mm_Messiah Old School Member Join Date: 2003-07-25 Member: 18411Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-SoulSkorpion+Sep 14 2004, 04:33 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SoulSkorpion @ Sep 14 2004, 04:33 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I have <i>no</i> sympathy for anyone who does that to their body. None. Regardless of nationality.

    Anyone who eats themself into corpulent blimp-hood deserves whatever natural selection throws at them. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Exactly.
  • CreepieCreepie Join Date: 2003-02-19 Member: 13734Members
    Nobody gets that fat without some form of mental or physical ailment.
  • taboofirestaboofires Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9853Members
    My mother works in medicine, and a few of my family friends are MDs (no I'm not filthy rich, through work), and the things I see would frighten most of you. The sad truth of things is that this is kind of gross neglect for the human body is disgustingly common.

    There are very, <i>very</i> many Americans that cannot see their feet, to say the least. Human-lifting crane manufacturers are in the right business.

    I recently read an article about how much of Europe and the rest of the world gets a sanitized, Hollywood-type picture of the US. The plain truth of it is that we just don't put our real problems on camera. TV and movie personalities are (obviously, and then some) not representative.
  • RaVeRaVe Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17538Members
    edited September 2004
    There goes the saying of expect the unexpected.

    Heard of it before. It's weird how her...rear grew into the couch.

    Hmm....I wonder if keeping my hand in contact with a chainsaw for 2 years will naturally graft a chainsaw onto my arm....

    RAWR BEAVERTOOTH!

    EDIT : TBH you shouldn't have your faith in humanity lowered. For all we know at least we're down one compared to like...billions living right now right?

    Call me ignorant if you want, but people die. It's just one of those things that just happen. I didn't ask to be born TBH. And I'm sure you didn't either, but it just happens.
  • UltimaGeckoUltimaGecko hates endnotes Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16320Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-taboofires+Sep 14 2004, 07:57 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (taboofires @ Sep 14 2004, 07:57 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> My mother works in medicine, and a few of my family friends are MDs (no I'm not filthy rich, through work), and the things I see would frighten most of you. The sad truth of things is that this is kind of gross neglect for the human body is disgustingly common.

    There are very, <i>very</i> many Americans that cannot see their feet, to say the least. Human-lifting crane manufacturers are in the right business.

    I recently read an article about how much of Europe and the rest of the world gets a sanitized, Hollywood-type picture of the US. The plain truth of it is that we just don't put our real problems on camera. TV and movie personalities are (obviously, and then some) not representative. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yes, because, "OMG, I can't see my feet!" translates to "Let me sit on the couch and graft my **** into it." [ and I doubt numerous large breasted women can see their feet just by looking down, either]

    My dad, though suffering from a chemical deficiency in his brain and weighing close to 270 pounds (and also from having a hernia when he was younger), he sat around all day, he even suffered from panic attacks, limiting his ability to go outside. But at no time did he graft himself into a piece of furniture because he was just to lazy to move.



    A majority of Americans may be overweight (along with some of those plump Europeans over there), it's something that comes with becoming an industrialized nation. Once you surpass the rigors of nature you just don't need to get as much exercise getting your food.

    Now, I don't know where you live, that you're seeing all these bulbous Americans, but I live in the land of the obese (that'd be Wisconsin), and I've yet to see someone who was so fat they couldn't fit through a doorway. Show me a statistic where there's greater than 0.01% of the American population weighing 450 pounds or more, and then we'll have something.
  • BirdyBirdy Join Date: 2003-05-29 Member: 16825Members, Constellation
    edited September 2004
    McDonald's! McDonald's! Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Jabba the Hut!
  • GlissGliss Join Date: 2003-03-23 Member: 14800Members, Constellation, NS2 Map Tester
    edited September 2004
    How do you let yourself get that fat? I mean at 300 or even 400 pounds, you should stop and think maybe you're getting too fat. Even at 250, or so.
    But this woman went straight to 600, and on top of that, was stuck on her couch?


    It's sort of sad where in some third world country, there are tons of people who die because they are starving.
    But then, here, there're people who die because they eat <i>too much</i>? That's just nonsense.
  • ZigZig ...I am Captain Planet&#33; Join Date: 2002-10-23 Member: 1576Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-camO.o's sig+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (camO.o's sig)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->wach this vid and and telll me wa u think happen. this wil realy make u think....WERE DID THE PLANE GO?<!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> WAHT REALY HIT THE PINT?<!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->?
    >>>>>>>WHAT WAS IT?? <<<<<<<<<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    ahahahaa XD
  • CreepieCreepie Join Date: 2003-02-19 Member: 13734Members
    Gross neglect of one's self is rarely pure choice. I expect that this story started with a genetic dispostion towards the larger side of the clothing rail. It would have included poor diet as a child, possibly abuse. Compound this with mental health problems, agoraphobia, depression, etc... and it quite understandable why someone wouldn't want to face humanity at all. Although this is an extreme, there are many who take this path.

    Incidentally, my faith in humanity's ability to be unsympathetic and bigotted is affirmed.
  • raz0rraz0r Join Date: 2003-07-24 Member: 18395Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-SoulSkorpion+Sep 14 2004, 11:33 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SoulSkorpion @ Sep 14 2004, 11:33 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I have <i>no</i> sympathy for anyone who does that to their body. None. Regardless of nationality.

    Anyone who eats themself into corpulent blimp-hood deserves whatever natural selection throws at them. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Damn Straight!
  • xectxect Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9807Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-taboofires+Sep 14 2004, 02:57 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (taboofires @ Sep 14 2004, 02:57 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I recently read an article about how much of Europe and the rest of the world gets a sanitized, Hollywood-type picture of the US. The plain truth of it is that we just don't put our real problems on camera. TV and movie personalities are (obviously, and then some) not representative. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Huh? I'm Danish, and I was under the impression that the opposite was true. What I see of Americans is either hollywood stereotypes, tunnelvision or people so ignorant it hurts. I hope and believe that the intellegent Americans just aren't put on camera, because if the parts of America we see are accurate, I'd lose MY faith in humanity.
  • ZelZel Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12861Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-UltimaGecko+Sep 14 2004, 09:36 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (UltimaGecko @ Sep 14 2004, 09:36 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Now, I don't know where you live, that you're seeing all these bulbous Americans, but I live in the land of the obese (that'd be Wisconsin), and I've yet to see someone who was so fat they couldn't fit through a doorway. Show me a statistic where there's greater than 0.01% of the American population weighing 450 pounds or more, and then we'll have something. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I live in Milwaukee, and ive seen a lot of people CLOSE to not fitting through a doorway... the ones any bigger DONT MAKE IT OUTSIDE.

    so unless you see into every home, you dont have an unbiased viewpoint to say they dont exist.

    thats like saying nobody is invisible cuz ive never seen an invisible person <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • Cold_NiTeCold_NiTe Join Date: 2003-09-15 Member: 20875Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Marik_Steele+Sep 14 2004, 01:01 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Marik_Steele @ Sep 14 2004, 01:01 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> eediot and Uzi, I think you're both coming too close to insults.

    Back on-topic: I really feel bad whenever I read stories like this. It's because on the one hand I want to lighten the mood back up with a joke about hoverplatform things like Jabba the Hutt used in his older, wealthier years, but on the other hand I know that just thinking this probably makes me an ***. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Now I have images of this woman grafted to her couch which also happens to be a hoverplatform in disguise, floating up and down just like in that SA thread where they photoshopped JudoHobo to make him half probe droid and had him animated so that he floats. I'm also starting to feel unsympathetic since she didn't seek out help whatsoever.
  • DarkATiDarkATi Revelation 22:17 Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17532Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    And that would be wrong because I am invisible. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    An interesting case and a hard one to judge fairly really, since we don't know alot of things. Although I find it highly unlikely I wouldn't put it past this woman to have just been exceedingly lazy.

    However, having been sick for just about one week I got extremely sick of sitting on the couch (and hurling but that's a whole nother issue). I really hated it, my lower back was in pain and my arse was always falling asleep... how this woman did it I have no clue. I'm conscious of my wait with just about 13% body fat (6'0 165 pounds) how could anyone let themselves go like that?

    I mean let's be honest, this woman is better off dead I think... she obviously had no life! What was she living for? She couldn't of been happy... could she?

    *sigh*

    Very strange and... ugh... well... just strange, really. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    ~ DarkATi
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