Reply #23: From The Referenced Article

[CO Liberal]

I originally posted this message in the other thread that was started on this story. I'm reposting it hear because this thread seems more sympathetic to this poor man's plight. - Wayne

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Deuel, who has battled weight problems all his life and blames his condition in part on genetics, said it took months to find a hospital. Hospitals closer to his home balked at admitting him, he said.

“I got scared because I couldn’t help him anymore, and I didn’t know who would help him,” said his wife, Edith.

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Some people have a propensity to gain weight easily - Patrick Deuel is an extreme case of this. It can be aggravated by constant dieting and regaining (yo-yo dieting) - this can throw the body's metabolism out of whack.

And shame on the hospitals that "balked at admitting him". There's a tendancy in the medical profession to undertreat the overweight - many doctors do the minimum they have to do, and "get the fat lady (or man) out of the office".

I wish Patrick Deull the best of luck. And hope no one tries to talk him into the butchery of weight-loss surgery.