Interesting article in today's NY Times that reviews some of the many medical challenges that people who weigh more than 350 or 400 pounds face. The "morbidly obese" population tripled number in the United States in just a decade, to 2.2 percent of the population in 2000. It doesn't show any signs of stopping so the horror stories cited in this article will likely only worsen.
New York Times November 29, 2003