"Frequent Flier"

We're dispatched for an older gentleman having trouble breathing.  At this time of night I'd guess either anxiety or orthopnea (either due to fluid build up or obesity), in this case it was all three.  The dispatcher stresses several times that this is "your usual", i.e. a "frequent flier" - great, either he's non-compliant with his meds and treatment regimen or he's someone that the system simply forgot & tried to sweep under the rug.  Regardless, arriving on scene I'm happy to hear that this is a ground floor apartment and the gentleman is ready to walk out to the ambulance.  My partner moves the truck while I quickly get report from the medics & eye the patient up & down, figuring out the logistics for our next move.  He appears calm & comfortable, without worsening of symptoms upon ambulation in the apartment.  We walk outside to the ambulance together & he eyes the bus up & down, hesitant about how he could get in, and after one attempt it's apparent that he cannot get in under his own power.  We secured him to the stretcher and try to lift >400lbs (~70lb stretcher + >350lbs dead-weight patient), unfortunately on the count of 3 the only thing I feel moving is my back into a tight knot.  "@$&%^!!!" flies through my head.  A few minutes and an extra pair of hands later he's loaded into the truck.  A frequent flier who calls for an ambulance every day, sometimes more than once a day and expects to be carried and lifted into the ambulance each time and we, EMS, are helpless, cannot tell him exactly what's on our mind: get your fat ass up and move around a bit, it'll do your body good, I'm not risking a career-ending injury over your non-compliant ass, especially when you will probably be dead within the next year anyway because you don't take care of your condition.  No, instead we patiently ride in to the hospital, do routine sets of vital signs, and happily report to our next shift that the frequent flier is alive & relatively well, and will most likely be calling them back sometime in the late afternoon for another bogus complaint to hitch a ride to the hospital.  And everybody asks why EMTs & Paramedics are so gruff, pessimistic & irritable; what nobody asks is how many of us are out on temporary or permanent disability because of selfish people like this.  And please, please save me the story of how obesity is a disease, but if you seem to think so, I've got a cure for you - put the fork down!  Same thing goes for alcoholism, drug & nicotine addictions - it's not a disease it's a weakness, perhaps a weakness some cannot overcome, but it is NOT a disease that you have no control over.