Morbidly Obese Man Dies After Two Years in the Same Chair
Ohio Man had to be cut out of home, later died.
March 30, 2011 — -- A morbidly obese man has died after being stuck in a chair at home that he had been unable to leave for two years, ABC affiliate WRTF reported and ABC News has confirmed.
The Bellaire, Ohio man, who has not been publicly identified, was a patient at Wheeling Hospital in West Virginia, ABC Affiliate WTRF reported.
On Sunday, the 43-year-old man's two roommates discovered him unconscious. They called authorities.
When firefighters arrived, they discovered that the man's skin was stuck to the chair with urine and feces. Maggots were visible, according to local reports.
"The chair was very filthy, a lot of odor to it. Going in the house, the house was not clean. 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" Jim Chase, a code enforcer for the city, told ABC affiliate WKEF said.
With the help of the police and fire department, the man was freed from his house and taken to Wheeling Hospital in nearby West Virginia, where he later died.
"They had to take a section of the wall down to the house to get him out," Chase said.
Some Bellaire police officers said the conditions were so deplorable that one threw away his soiled uniform after freeing the man, WKEF reported.