Maternity Wards widen doorways for obese mothers

Maternity wards forced to widen delivery-room doors for obese mothers
By Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 2:24 AM on 11th January 2009

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Maternity units have been forced to widen delivery-room doorways because of the increasing numbers of obese mothers.
Leading hospitals across the country have revealed they have had to expand frames by up to four inches to cope with overweight women.
Thirty out of 33 birthing centres in London have confirmed that the dimensions of their doorways have increased.
Hospitals across the country have revealed they have had to expand frames by up to four inches to cope with overweight women
While rising obesity is a concern in the general population, it is a particular problem for pregnant women because of the health risks to them and their unborn children.
Doctors say up to 50 per cent of women giving birth in some areas of the UK are now classed as obese, with the highest figures in Liverpool, Glasgow and London.
The news was revealed at a conference at the British Library last week held by Government-funded research body the Confidential Enquiry Into Maternal And Child Health (CEMACH).
Jo Modder, CEMACH’s clinical director of obstetrics and consultant obstetrician at University College of London Hospital, said she had witnessed instances where maternity staff could not fit women through delivery-room doors.
She said: ‘It’s not by much, only a couple of inches. But it causes problems and it’s not very dignified for patients.’
Hospitals have admitted spending £50million on equipment to deal with overweight patients, including £21million on stronger beds.
The CEMACH study found two-thirds of maternity units in London had bought new beds. Most could deal with weights of up to 250kg (40 stone), but one birthing centre reported that it had ordered a bed that had a safe working load of up to 300kg (47 stone).
It now appears that hospitals have also had to pay for structural changes. Siobhan Quenby, consultant obstetrician at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, said the hospital had been designed with wider beds in mind but that some brands of bed for larger patients still did not fit.
‘The hospital had to find a company that made delivery beds for larger women which would fit through our doors, even after the architect had widened them,’ she said. ‘I think the doors were widened by something in the region of around two to four inches.’

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The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust said the size of delivery rooms had increased in a refurbishment three years ago and while this was not done ‘specifically’ for larger mothers, it allowed all women ‘more space’.
Many hospitals were reluctant to talk about problems posed by obesity. Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals NHS Trust said it was not prepared to give out information ‘because of patients’ sensitivities’.
Pregnant women are classed as obese by CEMACH if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 35 or weigh more than 100kg (15 stone) during their pregnancy. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by his or her height (in metres) squared and is thought to be the most useful way to assess body-fat levels.
Studies have found that being overweight can increase a mother’s risk of diabetes, heart problems and maternal death. It also makes women more likely to miscarry.

Many hospitals are now considering specialist obesity clinics for pregnant women.
The Department of Health said it did not provide guidance to NHS trusts on widening doorways for obese patients.

We have an OBGYN clinic like that in The US which was in the news this past year or so, I think it's in Massachusetts, but I am not sure. They have scales that will weigh up to a half ton, where as before they had to weigh the women on the loading dock scales in the hospital stock delivery area. They have blood pressure arm cuffs that will fit up to a large sized male thigh, devices hanging from ceilings (like traction equipment) and attached to beds and wheelchairs where they can hoist them around like cattle when they become immobile, re-enforced steel bedframes that won't buckle under their massive weight, larger size exam tables, plus size wheel chairs and waiting area chairs, tent sized hospital gowns, and even bigger instuments like for their massive cooters and such. Personally, I think that if a woman is unable to weigh on a standard hospital scale that goes up to 350 pounds, then she should really rethink getting knocked up. It's dangerous for the baybee and it's life threatening for her as well.


I think it's medical malpractice for an MD to encourage pregnancy, condone it, or assist it as with infertility treatment, if the woman is SO OBESE as to put her health and life in danger, as well as her kyd's. I think that obesity and pregnancy together should be avoided, discouraged, and clear and easily accessible options available to terminate it when they have "accidents".

Are they sure these women are even pregnant?

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

I think it's medical malpractice for an MD to encourage pregnancy, condone it, or assist it as with infertility treatment, if the woman is SO OBESE as to put her health and life in danger, as well as her kyd's. I think that obesity and pregnancy together should be avoided, discouraged, and clear and easily accessible options available to terminate it when they have "accidents".




I have a cousin who is morbidly obese, her doctor told her he would not deliver and refer her to another doctor if she chose to have a baby in her state of health. He encouraged her to either get a stomach band to lose weight or never have kids while she is so obese.
I am glad to see some doctors stand firm.

T wo
H ousehold
I ncome
N o
K ids
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R etirement

I can just see the headlines:

'HOSPITAL MATERNITY FLOOR COLLAPSES UNDER WEIGHT OF FAT MOOS AND THEIR UNBORN SPROGGS'

two cents ¢¢

CERTIFIED HOSEHEAD!!!

people (especially women) do not give ONE DAMN about what they inflict on children and I defy anyone to prove me wrong

Dysfunctional relationships almost always have a child. The more dysfunctional, the more children.

The selfish wants of adults outweigh the needs of the child.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed, but some mistakes can be 'fixed'.

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Leo J. Burke

Adoption agencies have strict criteria (usually). Breeders, whose combined IQ's would barely hit triple digits, have none.

The question that turns my stomach is who are the no self-esteem-having sods who have had sex with these bovines...?!?

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Marzipan
The question that turns my stomach is who are the no self-esteem-having sods who have had sex with these bovines...?!?

These women were not fat when they got married. They puffed after marriage and now the man is stuck or he will lose his house, car, and money.
Watched numerous women I know, stay fit until after marriage and now they are the size of small farm equipment.

T wo
H ousehold
I ncome
N o
K ids
E arly
R etirement

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annie35

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Marzipan
The question that turns my stomach is who are the no self-esteem-having sods who have had sex with these bovines...?!?

These women were not fat when they got married. They puffed after marriage and now the man is stuck or he will lose his house, car, and money.
Watched numerous women I know, stay fit until after marriage and now they are the size of small farm equipment.

Yep. Seen it happen myself. It's the oldest trick in the book: put on your best face (and body) whist courting your future victim and hope he doesn't look to close. The charade usually ends about a few months after the honeymoon is over. Sometimes sooner. Then hubby gets to see the real you...but it's too late. And that goes double if there's a kid on the way - because then if he tries to escape he's a 'deadbeat'...

They actually showed the stomach of a woman weighing nearly 700 lbs on Discovery Health last night. She was checked into one of those "super obese" clinics and I actually did feel sorry for her. Anyway, she said that she had started putting on tremendous amounts of weight after she started having baybees and that she had 3 baybees by age 18. In addition to her obesity, her body was ruined and nothing short of SKILLED and EXTENSIVE cosmetic surgery could make it look anywhere near "normal", even if she had been able to lose all of the weight. She pulled up her moo moo and displayed her "stomach" and I use that term loosley. If I hadn't known what body part it was then I would have thought it was a HUGE fat ass, as it looked as if it had butt cheeks and it hung down to her knees. They called it an "apron" stomach. I can't imagine being in a prison like that when her obesity and "apron stomach' was CLEARLY directly AND indirectly caused by so many damned births at a very early age, then only intensified due to the HORRIFIC weight gain. NO thanks,