Morbidly obese man found fused to chair he sat in for two years dies in hospital

By Paul Thompson for MailOnline
Updated: 12:06 EST, 31 March 2011

A morbidly obese man found fused to a chair he had been stuck in for two years has died, it was revealed today.

The unnamed man had been found unconscious on Sunday by his girlfriend and had to be wedged free from his recliner by emergency services.

Rescuers then had to cut a hole in the wall of his house as they could not immediately remove him from the chair.

Health crisis: Paramedics found the man's skin was fused to the chair because he had been sitting still for so long

The 43-year-old was from Bellaire, Ohio, was rushed to Wheeling Hospital, West Virginia in a critical condition but later died, officers said.

The man was found by health officials sitting in his own faeces and urine and covered in maggots at the house on Sunday.

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Paramedics were called to the home by the man's girlfriend after she found him unconscious.

She admitted to medics she had been feeding him by hand since he got too big to get up.

Sources told the local TV station in Bellaire that the man insisted on eating, drinking and sleeping in the chair.

Rescue mission: A hole had to be cut in a wall of the massive man's house to lift him through. He was subsequently admitted to hospital in critical condition

He insisted that his girlfriend feed him food and soft drinks.

Friends of the 43 year old said he had complained about arthritis in his knees and every time he tried to move he was in too much pain.

One friend said: 'I tried to suggest him going to the hospital and getting his legs checked out, but he wouldn't do it.

'He said he didn't like doctors. So you can't force somebody to do something that they don't want to do.'

Filth: Health officials said three people were living in the Bellaire, Ohio house, including the immobilised man's girlfriend, who fed him food and soft drinks

Health officials said three people were living in the house.

One officer said it was the worst thing he had ever responded to.

Another health official said after coming into contact with the obese man he'd been forced to throw his uniform away.

City health official Jim Chase said: 'The chair was very filthy, a lot of odour to it. Going in the house, the house was not clean.

The unnamed obese man was reported to have been rushed to Wheeling Hospital, West Virginia, where he later died

'The living room where the man lived in his chair was very filthy, very deplorable. It's unbelievable that somebody lives in conditions like that.'

The man's landlord said his tenant used to be active and she hadn't noticed his appalling condition because he'd been hiding himself under a blanket whenever she stopped by.

Fire-crews carried the man out of the house and he was rushed to Wheeling Hospital where he is reported to be in critical condition.

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