Saturday, June 21, 2014

Australia: 440-pound body rejected from morgue for being 'too fat'

"The 440-pound body of a man was rejected from a morgue at an Australian hospital for being "too fat" after a funeral director had driven more than two hours with the deceased in her hearse."
"I actually had to turn around and drive two hours home to Roebourne and keep him in my car overnight," Cummings told Australia's ABC.

"(A member of staff) walked out and looked at this gentleman in the back of the car and said: 'He's too fat, he can't go in the fridge'," Cummings told the North West Telegraph.

"I could probably put a baby elephant in one of those fridges and it'd fit through the door, and they're refusing entry for a human being. My issue is if that was your father, mother, partner... you wouldn't want them refused entry into the mortuary."

17 comments:

Sydney said...

That's terrible. They didn't even try to get the body into the morgue, just passed judgement on it as it was sitting in the hearse. It's telling that a funeral director has more respect for the dead than the hospital employee, isn't it?

Dad Bones said...

If I weighed 440 I'd probably try to go outside to die so they could roll me onto a skid loader. I like to be helpful whenever I can.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

sydney said...
It's telling that a funeral director has more respect for the dead than the hospital employee, isn't it?


To be fair, once you are dead the hospital employee's work is done.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I think the problem is, once they got it in the fridge, they wouldn't be able to get to the stuff in the back.

deborah said...

I hate you Bat.

Shouting Thomas said...

440 is a shitload.

Everything in this life is an opportunity for somebody. Apparently, a spot has opened for a new type of entrepreneur in the mortuary arts... the body splitter.

This guy could give some work to two morgues. Some clever machinist could invent a body splitter. Butchers do it with cows, right?

Plenty of fatties out there that will probably need to be split in two for an orderly burial.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

ndspinelli said...

I grew up n a town w/ many Pollocks. My family went to many Polish weddings. One of the polka dances they would always play was, "I don't want her, you can have her, she's too fat for me."

edutcher said...

The Blonde worked on a bariatric floor for several years and has a trunkful of war stories about how hellish it is to move and work with a human body that size.

PS Pollock is a fish.

Polack is somebody who fought the Krauts for 6 years and the Commies for 50 and never gave up.

PPS Even the girl in the Too Fat Polka probably wasn't that big.
200 pounds max.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Eric, coffee out of my nose!

Chip Ahoy said...

This reminds me of a similar situation when Karl Malden died, thankfully a workable solution was found.

Also when Disney died.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

There are baby elephants in Australia.

I learn something everyday.

Sydney said...

It took me a while to get that Karl Malden joke, but once I did, it was worth it

Synova said...

If that was your father, mother, partner... that got taken out of the fridge to put the 440 pound baby elephant in there...

I get that this is distressing for everyone involved but the fact is, when you're that big, you don't *fit*. Not in airplane seats, not behind the wheel of a car, not through a 2 1/2 foot wide door, not on most chairs.

The hospital here, now has double-wide seats in the waiting area... which is nice, actually, and high seats too, for old people that can't get out of the chair again if they sit *down*. I approve.

But I'm also appalled. Let's be fair... I'm fat. But I don't need a double wide chair. I can't even imagine how that happens. I feel sad because it's got to be so hard just to get through a day.

Synova said...

Eric the Bat said it funnier than me.

Granted, it's probably not funny for the people involved... but still.

deborah said...

Syova, according to that cute picture you posted when you were showing us the rocks, you are not fat.

These bariatric situations are only going to become more common as society continues to be based on wheat and sugar and fast food. And it will be accommodated by over-size morgue freezers, etc. That is the present-day reality.

We must have compassion for these unlucky people.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Chip, so what did the casket look like for Uncle Milty?