Fat Patients

The state of the average person’s inactive and sedentary lifestyle, combined with the sheer volume of foods (generally fast foods) available to the general public today has resulted in what has recently been defined as an obesity pandemic. Almost as though it were a dangerous virus spreading throughout society, and not a wave of laziness or gluttony.

This has provided paramedics with patients from a multitude of health problems as a secondary result of obesity, including:

Diabetes Type II

Heart Disease (including cardiomyopathy, which is an enlarged heart)

Back Injuries (for the patient and the paramedic)

Pressure Sores (due to immobility problems)

And many more emergency health problems.

This has also introduced new complications to the role of paramedic, which often involves innovative solutions for transporting and extricating obese people from their dwellings.