The NuMask looks like a good BLS solution for folks with normal facial anatomy, but what if they don't have teeth or a misshapen jawline? Granted, getting an airway on a morbidly obese patient is sometimes difficult, but it's not the whole picture. Even if we have perfect airway control we need to face the problem of getting them out of the house or the fact that we see them a lot more - remember, morbidly obese folks have a high incidence of co-morbidity problems (heart disease, type II diabetes, etc.) which means that we tend to see them more than their non-obese counterparts.

I agree that we need to figure out why this is happening - is it an educational problem, a psychological problem, a psychical problem, or D) all of the above. We all know it's really tough to eat healthy even if you know what to eat and have the time to prepare it. Do we need healthier choices at restaurants (yes!) or do we need better educated consumers (I don't care if it's a carrot - once you coat it in batter and deep-fry it it's no longer a "healthy snack"). Then again, maybe we also need people who are willing to say "I'm overweight because of the choices I make in life, not because Colonial Sanders put a special chemical in his fried chicken that makes me crave it on a regular basis". (Taco Bell and Baskin-Robbins must use the same chemical...)

Until then we'll just have to pay more for airlines (heavier people = more fuel used), more for health care (even if you don't go to the doctor on a regular basis the insurance companies base their rates on a cross-sampling of the population) and send more people out to safely carry people out to the truck.

Leave the bucket of KFC - the craving is starting to kick in...