Britain’s obesity problem leads to super-sized mortuary with slabs that can hold 50st bodies

By
Richard Hartley-parkinson

Last updated at 3:48 PM on 4th January 2012

The state of Britain’s obesity problem has been laid bare as a mortuary that can take 50st corpses prepares to open.

The morgue, which will be part of a £4.6m coroner’s court development in Gloucester, will have space for severely overweight. Among the features there will be extra wide fridges, two trolleys capable of holding a 35 stone body and another that will be able to hold 50st.

Scott Riddell, manager of the centre, said: ‘The dimensions have got bigger because people are getting bigger and we’ve had to think about that. In New York one man who died was 62st.’

The new morgue in Gloucester has trolleys that can hold the weight of obese people weighing up to 50st

The new morgue in Gloucester has trolleys that can hold the weight of obese people weighing up to 50st

The morgue chamber contains a series of cupboards which have either four or five metal pull-out trays to store the bodies.

Until now, Gloucestershire had an ad hoc situation for dealing with inquests, with some taking place at Shire Hall and others at the Four Seasons conference centre in Cheltenham.

The morgue was essentially space at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital or Cheltenham General.

Conservative Councillor Will Windsor-Clive, 51, cabinet member for communities at Gloucestershire County Council said the centre was ’state of the art’.

He said: “The problem that we had is that people are getting bigger than they used to be and we didn’t have facilities for larger bodies.

‘We have gone to the highest specifications with our centre. Some of our fridges have much larger dimensions.

‘They are deeper in the fridge so your obese person can be put in there without it being a problem. There is also plenty of room for other fridges.

The morgue also has extra large chambers to fit bodies of severely overweight people

The morgue also has extra large chambers to fit bodies of severely overweight people

‘The undertaken can put them in on one side and they can be taken out easily on the other for the post mortem.

‘It is a state of the art facility and one of the most modern in Britain. It is a morbid thing to open but it is very much needed.’

In the mortuary there are areas and autopsy benches for pathologists, office space for the 15 workers based at the site, waiting rooms, a large inquest chamber and even a relaxation garden for visitors.

There is also parking at the main entrance.

Mr Riddell said: ‘These facilities are as modern as you can great, it was like we were in the dark ages before.’ Sally Bye, head of registration and coroner services, said: ‘It’s a tremendous design.’

 

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Oh dear, we can’t win! One moment DM readers are spouting vitriol at the suggestion that the state should be promoting any sort of healthy eating or exercise promotion, the next they are critical that the state is having to pick up the pieces when people become morbidly obese. Make your minds up!

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There must be some whale ships that are no longer needed that can do the job

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I don’t know what to say about the rising obesity problem, except that it seems to be occuring now everywhere in the world and it is indeed something that needs to be addressed, as this modern mortuary has done. I’ve never been overweight myself, probably because I hate fast food and never eat it. So I can’t imagine it as “a treat on a day out”, JonD, Hayes (I agree with you though that there are far too many fast food outlets which seem to be replacing all the decent local food shops.) I’ve just spent Christmas and New Year with my relatives including a younger cousin who is overweight (17 stones) and over the festive season she ate all the good home-cooked food we made, three decent meals a day, and shed four pounds in weight in ten days flat. When she is on her own, however, she fills herself up all day with sweets and crisps and doesn’t cook proper meals at home. There’s a moral here, I think. Why was Kate Price red-arrowed, by the way?

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I suggest that after the post-mortems, all the fat from the dead obese people be rendered down and turned into biofuel. I’d even go as far as taking a mobile liposuction van around to neighbourhoods to suck the fat out of the massively obese and take it away for processing.
- Dawn, London, 04/1/2012 15:50
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A plastic surgeon in America Dr Alan Bittner did this in 2008 as reported by this paper using the waste from liposuction patients however he got into trouble for it and ended up himself being probed by the US authorities because it is illegal over there to fuel cars from human waste (who comes up with these laws in the first place?) I can’t see any problem, after all it is the fastest an obese person is ever going to get to move as car fuel.

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All the red arrows are from obese people .

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I suggest that after the post-mortems, all the fat from the dead obese people be rendered down and turned into biofuel. I’d even go as far as taking a mobile liposuction van around to neighbourhoods to suck the fat out of the massively obese and take it away for processing.
- Dawn, London, 4/1/2012 15:50 *******************************************Dawn in all my years of reading comments on this paper yours is the best . Congratulations ! If you have any more sensible ideas be sure post them ..especially regarding the new PLAGUE …* fat people *

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These lards are bigger than elephants and should be treated outside in the fields .

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50st ? By the time everything is ready that 50 will have gone up to 80st .

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As we are in Britain can we please use proper English here? The word is mortuary in English, and we no longer have slabs we have Post Mortem Tables.

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I suggest that after the post-mortems, all the fat from the dead obese people be rendered down and turned into biofuel. I’d even go as far as taking a mobile liposuction van around to neighbourhoods to suck the fat out of the massively obese and take it away for processing. – Dawn, London, 04/1/2012 This is such a good idea, both practical ‘green’. In fact why don’t we tell all people while they are alive, that if their BMI is to great if they die in that state, then bio-fuel is their fate …….then maybe they will moderate the amount of food they shove down their fat faces ! Lets not ‘go nuclear’ lets just stick another fattie in the boiler.
- Dusk, Birmingham, 04/1/2012 16:31SOYLENT GREEN

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