.Friday, May 22, 2009
Deceased Obese Women in the News
Obese Woman Dragged From Home, Hauled Away After Dying
The Marion County Coroner's Office has come under fire after it was revealed that an obese woman was dragged from her home and hauled away on a trailer in front of family members following her death.
Teresa Smith, 48, who weighed 750 pounds, died Tuesday in her apartment on Indianapolis' northeast side.
The Marion County Coroner's Office has come under fire after it was revealed that an obese woman was dragged from her home and hauled away on a trailer in front of family members following her death.
Teresa Smith, 48, who weighed 750 pounds, died Tuesday in her apartment on Indianapolis' northeast side.
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Officials at the scene said that the deputy coroner made the decision to call a towing service to remove the body from the home.
Officials at the scene said that the deputy coroner made the decision to call a towing service to remove the body from the home.
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"We debated for quite a while about how we were going to get her out of there and so we finally decided, since we didn't have a van that was large enough to carry her, it was decided between (the police) department and the coroner's office to use (the truck)," said Detective Marcus Kennedy.Smith's boyfriend and the couple's 13-year-old son, along with several neighbors, watched as Smith's body, still on her mattress, was dragged across the courtyard of the apartment complex, strapped down on the wrecker and covered with a piece of carpet.
"I think they should have handled it differently, putting her on a flatbed like they did. That was like putting a cow up there," said Smith's boyfriend, David Johnson.
Neighbors said they were also disturbed by the ordeal.
"What really got me is when they took her off onto the flatbed, they threw this dirty, dirty carpet on top of her, and I just thought that was so disrespectful," said a neighbor, who did not want to be identified. "I would have never let them throw that on my loved one."
Once on the truck, Smith's body was escorted by police downtown to the coroner's office.
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Former Chief Deputy Coroner John Linehan said he was shocked and dismayed that appropriate steps weren't taken to remove the woman from her home.
He said that fire and medical personnel have equipment available for handling patients up to 1,000 pounds and that moving obese individuals is not all that rare of an occurrence.
.Former Chief Deputy Coroner John Linehan said he was shocked and dismayed that appropriate steps weren't taken to remove the woman from her home.
He said that fire and medical personnel have equipment available for handling patients up to 1,000 pounds and that moving obese individuals is not all that rare of an occurrence.
"When they scoop up dead dogs off of the street they don't treat them that way," he said. "It's just not the way to treat a human being."
Chief Deputy Coroner Alfarena Ballew told Rinehart by phone Wednesday that a flatbed truck has been used in other occasions to move obese individuals. She said the office is now looking for a way to transport Smith's body from the morgue to the funeral home.
The Indiana State Coroner's Association said it has no specific recommendations to handle extremely obese people. The decision is left up to each county.
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Coffin 'too big' for crematorium
A woman has had to be buried after council officials ruled her coffin was too big for cremation.
Falkirk Council said that despite Betty Wilson, 79, losing both her legs to diabetes, the width of her coffin exceeded the limits of their cremator.
The decision has been criticised by Mrs Wilson's daughter Liz, who has called for facilities to be bigger.
The council said its crematorium could accommodate coffins up to 28in wide, 81in long and 22in deep.
Mrs Wilson died at Bonnybridge Hospital on 25 April after suffering from a heart condition.
She had expressed a wish to be cremated in Camelon, not far from her home in the town's Fairlie Street.
However, family members were told by undertakers, Co-op Funeralcare, that a specially-made coffin would have to be created for Mrs Wilson and that it would not fit into the cremator at Camelon.
'Family requests'
A spokeswoman for the undertaker said: "The family were advised to go to South Lanarkshire where there is a larger facility. However, they decided that they would prefer a burial."
Mrs Wilson's daughter Liz told the Falkirk Herald she was stunned that her mother would not fit into the crematorium.
She told the paper: "We're always hearing that people are getting bigger so they should be thinking of these things and not upset family members in this way."
A Falkirk Council spokeswoman told the BBC Scotland news website that in the past 25 years the issue had affected five funerals.
She added: "We strive to accommodate family wishes at what can be a very distressing time.
"Unfortunately in particular circumstances the cremators are unable to accommodate family requests for this service.
"The three cremators have been in place since 1997 and undertakers are aware of the dimensions of our facilities."
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Kid lives with messed up internal organs
A girl has survived being born with five spleens, a hole in her heart, a diseased and back to front liver, two left lungs and her stomach on the wrong side..
Bethany Jordan:
Strangely, when she exercises too much, her heart can be seen beating through her back.
Bethany Jordan, six, was born with many of her organs back to front but amazed doctors who had warned her parents, Lisa, 37, and Robert, 44, there was little chance she would survive birth.
Her problems mean that, while she looks a picture of health, she cannot stand up to some of the normal rigorous and strains of an average child.
Bethany, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, sufferers from Ivemark Syndrome, an extremely rare genetic disorder, characterized by a poorly-formed cardiovascular system and organs in the wrong place.
Strangely, when she exercises too much, her heart can be seen beating through her back.
There are so few sufferers that very little is known about the condition or what could be its cause.
Bethany Jordan, six, was born with many of her organs back to front but amazed doctors who had warned her parents, Lisa, 37, and Robert, 44, there was little chance she would survive birth.
Her problems mean that, while she looks a picture of health, she cannot stand up to some of the normal rigorous and strains of an average child.
Bethany, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, sufferers from Ivemark Syndrome, an extremely rare genetic disorder, characterized by a poorly-formed cardiovascular system and organs in the wrong place.
Strangely, when she exercises too much, her heart can be seen beating through her back.
There are so few sufferers that very little is known about the condition or what could be its cause.
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Man drives Rolls-Royce into Tesco over missing mattress
A motorist drove his Rolls-Royce through a window and into a Tesco superstore after receiving a bed from the firm which was delivered without a mattress, his wife claimed.
Robert Caton, 50, went to the supermarket to remonstrate with managers after he ordered the bed from Tesco Direct, his wife Deborah, 43, said.
She claimed he was unhappy with their response and that he then drove his car through the store's window, forcing shoppers and staff to dive for cover.
A worker at the store claimed that minutes before he careered into the store he had tried to buy alcohol at the supermarket but staff refused to serve him.
He then allegedly stormed out of the shop and got into the Rolls-Royce, where store managers tried to reason with him.
Moments later staff and shoppers watched as Mr Caton drove at the store and crashed into a window by the checkouts at 4.30pm on Wednesday, demolishing at least two checkout stalls at the end of aisle number 11: biscuits and confectionary.
Mrs Caton, who has a son, said: "I am standing by Robert - he had a genuine complaint with Tesco.
"We had ordered a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a double bed from Tesco Direct but when they delivered the bed it did not include a mattress which we thought we had paid for.
"Robert went down to see the manager but he said there was nothing he could do about it."
Customer Patrick Ford, a 49-year-old designer, said: "I heard crashing and breaking of glass and what sounded like metal grinding. I turned round and saw this tidal wave of plastic, metal and glass coming towards me.
"The driver then reversed and came forward again so he was right inside the building."
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Robert Caton, 50, went to the supermarket to remonstrate with managers after he ordered the bed from Tesco Direct, his wife Deborah, 43, said.
She claimed he was unhappy with their response and that he then drove his car through the store's window, forcing shoppers and staff to dive for cover.
A worker at the store claimed that minutes before he careered into the store he had tried to buy alcohol at the supermarket but staff refused to serve him.He then allegedly stormed out of the shop and got into the Rolls-Royce, where store managers tried to reason with him.
Moments later staff and shoppers watched as Mr Caton drove at the store and crashed into a window by the checkouts at 4.30pm on Wednesday, demolishing at least two checkout stalls at the end of aisle number 11: biscuits and confectionary.
Mrs Caton, who has a son, said: "I am standing by Robert - he had a genuine complaint with Tesco.
"We had ordered a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a double bed from Tesco Direct but when they delivered the bed it did not include a mattress which we thought we had paid for.
"Robert went down to see the manager but he said there was nothing he could do about it."
Customer Patrick Ford, a 49-year-old designer, said: "I heard crashing and breaking of glass and what sounded like metal grinding. I turned round and saw this tidal wave of plastic, metal and glass coming towards me.
"The driver then reversed and came forward again so he was right inside the building."
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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed
252-lb Hooker nicknamed "The Demolition Woman"
Numerous neighbors of a 252-pound prostitute in Berlin are asking a judge to put her out of business because of the shaking of her apartment.
Tenants of the building where Ilnes Lorbach, 36, lives and legally entertains her prostitution clients told the Administrative Court in Berlin the sex lovemaking causes their apartments to shake.
One neighbor told the court a pair of valuable Baccarat crystal glasses fell from a shelf and broke as a result of the shaking.
Carolso Hoffmann, who lives next door to Lorbach, compared his living situation to "that film Earthquake." "She's a one-woman demolition job."
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Cemeteries are the newest wedding sites
Cemeteries such as the Wisconsin Memorial Park in Brookfield, Wis., have begun hosting weddings as part of a new service trend, industry officials say.
Stewart Enterprises Inc. spokeswoman Denise Westerfield, whose company operates the Brookfield cemetery, said funeral homes make an ideal wedding site given the changing perception of death in society,
"Funerals are becoming much more a celebration of life than a dark event, so why not have your wedding at a funeral home?" Westerfield said.
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Hunter cleared in toilet seat shooting
A Swedish court cleared a hunter whose missed shot shattered a toilet 1.06 miles away of an endangering human life charge.
The Boras District Court ruled the hunter, a 37-year-old man from Ulricehamn, used sufficient caution before taking the shot, The Local reported Wednesday.
The court was told the man was hunting geese at Tolken Lake, near the village of Hokerum when he fired a shot at a bird and missed. The bullet traveled more than a mile -- the court heard it may have ricocheted off a stone -- and sped past a couple entertaining a guest outside their cottage.
The couple said they followed the bullet's path inside the home and discovered their toilet seat had been shattered.
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Waterloo man arrested after trying to run over officers
A Waterloo man was arrested early Friday after he attempted to hit two police officers with his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Lemuel C. Johnson, 23, 404 Dane St., is charged with two counts of felony assault on a police officer and driving with a suspended license, Waterloo police said.
The two Waterloo police officers pulled Johnson over near the intersection of South Street and Mullan Avenue around 12:30 a.m., according to police records. As they approached his vehicle, Johnson threw the car in reverse and struck the front of a patrol car. Johnson then pulled forward.
The officers again tried to get near the car. Johnson responded by putting the vehicle in reverse and slamming into the patrol car. He then fled. Johnson’s car was found a short distance away from where he was stopped. Johnson was arrested after police found him hiding in a nearby abandoned building.
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Numerous neighbors of a 252-pound prostitute in Berlin are asking a judge to put her out of business because of the shaking of her apartment.
Tenants of the building where Ilnes Lorbach, 36, lives and legally entertains her prostitution clients told the Administrative Court in Berlin the sex lovemaking causes their apartments to shake.
One neighbor told the court a pair of valuable Baccarat crystal glasses fell from a shelf and broke as a result of the shaking.
Carolso Hoffmann, who lives next door to Lorbach, compared his living situation to "that film Earthquake." "She's a one-woman demolition job."
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Cemeteries are the newest wedding sites
Cemeteries such as the Wisconsin Memorial Park in Brookfield, Wis., have begun hosting weddings as part of a new service trend, industry officials say.
Stewart Enterprises Inc. spokeswoman Denise Westerfield, whose company operates the Brookfield cemetery, said funeral homes make an ideal wedding site given the changing perception of death in society,
"Funerals are becoming much more a celebration of life than a dark event, so why not have your wedding at a funeral home?" Westerfield said.
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Hunter cleared in toilet seat shooting
A Swedish court cleared a hunter whose missed shot shattered a toilet 1.06 miles away of an endangering human life charge.
The Boras District Court ruled the hunter, a 37-year-old man from Ulricehamn, used sufficient caution before taking the shot, The Local reported Wednesday.
The court was told the man was hunting geese at Tolken Lake, near the village of Hokerum when he fired a shot at a bird and missed. The bullet traveled more than a mile -- the court heard it may have ricocheted off a stone -- and sped past a couple entertaining a guest outside their cottage.
The couple said they followed the bullet's path inside the home and discovered their toilet seat had been shattered.
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Waterloo man arrested after trying to run over officers
A Waterloo man was arrested early Friday after he attempted to hit two police officers with his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Lemuel C. Johnson, 23, 404 Dane St., is charged with two counts of felony assault on a police officer and driving with a suspended license, Waterloo police said.
The two Waterloo police officers pulled Johnson over near the intersection of South Street and Mullan Avenue around 12:30 a.m., according to police records. As they approached his vehicle, Johnson threw the car in reverse and struck the front of a patrol car. Johnson then pulled forward.
The officers again tried to get near the car. Johnson responded by putting the vehicle in reverse and slamming into the patrol car. He then fled. Johnson’s car was found a short distance away from where he was stopped. Johnson was arrested after police found him hiding in a nearby abandoned building.
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