A 480-pound Stuart, Florida woman has died after emergency workers tried to remove her from the couch where she had remained for about six years.

Gayle Laverne Grinds, 40, died Wednesday, after a failed six-hour
effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home
was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even
use the bathroom.

Everyone going inside the home had to wear protective gear. The stench was so powerful they had to blast in fresh air.A
preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the
cause of death as "morbid obesity." But officials want to know more
about the circumstances inside the home.Investigators say Grinds
lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of
her the best he could. He has told them he tried repeatedly to get her
up, but simply couldn't. No charges have been filed, but officials are
looking into negligence issues.
Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift
the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck.
Removing her from the couch would be too painful, since her body was
grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin had
literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.