Bob Dougherty went to Home Depot. He wasn’t feeling very well in a “Jo-Ann Fabrics” sort of way, so he used Home Depot’s bathroom.
Unbeknownst to Bob, some hilarious individual had doused the toilet seat with superglue, instantly joining Bob’s ass and the toilet seat in an unholy union that was to be the subject of a 4-year-long legal battle.
Bob says no one at the Home Depot would help him. He says they thought it was a hoax and ignored his pleas for help. Bob says he became frighted and sat there swallowing nitroglycerin pills for his severe heart condition while waiting for someone to rescue him. Eventually, after another customer called 911, paramedics had to unbolt the toilet seat and take both Bob and it to the emergency room.
The operation proved unwieldy and the seat was torn from Bob’s butt in transit, resulting in a very unappetizing photograph of Bob’s angry, red bare ass that you can view at The Smoking Gun. This was 2003. Now Bob says the incident gave him post-traumatic stress disorder and that he’s developed diabetes as a direct result of Home Depot’s negligence. Bob says Home Depot didn’t offer to pay for his medical bills, including the ambulance and the emergency room visit. According to CBS4Denver, they offered him $2,000, but he turned it down calling it “an insult.”
Speaking with CBS4Denver, Bob said,
“I don’t believe I have much of a future ahead because of that status of by diabetes and I’m still going through these nightmares, and it still creates a lot of anxiety which increases my sugar levels consistently. It’s very difficult to express how much.. in depth.. this has taken over my body. It’s totally changed my way of life, period. I don’t feel comfortable going out anymore. My whole personality is somewhat changed because I’m not out there with anybody. I’m not associating. I’m pretty much introverting and just staying at my home. I’m not as outgoing as I once used to be. I don’t go out and enjoy my sports… to go fishing. It’s totally changed my entire life.I’m nothing more than a crumpled cripple sitting at home, waiting to die.
There are a lot of people who will laugh at this situation, and I suppose there’s some realm of slapstick that we’ve been taught to laugh at, but when this happens, this is serious. When.. it.. it.. changed my entire life. I’m not able to go out and enjoy the things that I used to. Going out just to.. dating and/or fishing. And/or doing most anything common. I’m not capable of doing this anymore.
Bob was recently rushed to the hospital in a diabetic coma, according to the Daily Camera. His lawyer says:
“Our contention has been that his post-traumatic stress disorder brought about his diabetic condition,” he said. “So you can say, ‘Well, this would not have occurred but for (the toilet-seat incident.)’”
If Dougherty were to die before the case goes to trial, Cohen said, “The law limits his (estate’s) ability to collect damages for pain and suffering.”
“But he really wants to have his day in court,” Cohen said.
The lawsuit is set to go to trial March 31, 2008. We will now tastefully end the story so you can discuss it.
Sticky Seat Case: The Smoking Bum? [The Smoking Gun]
Man glued to Home Depot toilet seat recovering from coma [Daily Camera]
Man Speaks About Home Depot Toilet Seat Incident [CBS4Denver]
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@King of the Wild Frontier:@Rectilinear Propagation:
Same here!
I thought it was pretty much established that he glued himself to the seat.
If not, how did he manage to glue himself down before the glue dried? In every washroom at Home Depot I’ve been in, there are 15 stalls or so. He would have had to have picked a stall that somebody just left, because anything longer than 30 seconds and that glue is dry. Why would he pick a stall that someone just left?
Also, he would have to be awfully quick in getting his pants down and sitting down.
Superglue scares me. I feel bad for the guy. He’s a (ha) mess.
I love his description of himself: “a crumpled cripple”. Alliterative and it has a good beat.
@Consumerist Moderator – ACAMBRAS: Ooo Ooo Can we do this too? It helps to know examples of what’s considered over the line.
“I’m nothing more than a crumpled cripple sitting at home, waiting to die.”
I think that’s really a personal choice. I have friends and family with Diabetes that still lead normal and productive lives. I hope he gets some mental help to come to the realization that Diabetes is not a death sentence if you’re willing to change your lifestyle. If he doesn’t, then his self-fulfilling prophecy will most certainly come true.
In the absence of seat covers, use toilet paper or at the very least wipe it down first. There’s all kinds of nasty on toilet seats. If it’s an “emergency” then a hover maneuver is your best option.
@ShadowFalls:
Super glue does not “harden quickly”. Especially if it weren’t super glue, but rather pure cyanoacrylate (the active ingredient). I’ve used CA a lot and if left on a non-porous or moisture resistant surface (like a public toilet seat), then it will not “harden”. It is quite feasible for it to not have “hardened” or evaporated in the timespan of several hours. I’ve inadvertently glued my fingers to things several times because I either couldn’t see the wet glue on the surface or I thought there was no way there would be any left after so long. And CA will bond pretty well instantly to skin. With that amount of surface area to bond to… you’ll have a hell of a time getting it off.
Even if it were tacky and not wet, ‘dry-pasting’, as its called, is a very effective way of adhering two surfaces.
There was a lady in my town that had the same thing happen to her. This happened at the local Walmart and she was planning on selling the trailer home and Ford Tempo and moving up in the world once she won the lawsuit. Unfortunately she liked to drink and told people in the bar how she put the superglue on the seat herself. Her case was thrown out and she’s banned from shopping at Walmart now.
True story…
Didn’t this guy sue some other store for a similar type incident in the past?
I am someone with a VERY bad stomach who has had to poo in many different public restrooms over the years. There was never a time, no matter how bad I had to go, that I did not scrutinize the toilet seat for urine, poo, or other bodily fluids. It takes 0.2 seconds to rip off some TP and throw it done on the seat. I call BS!
The photo didn’t look all that bad. hold on let me rephrase that, the “wound” in the photo didn’t look all that bad that it would have been from something that caused PTSD.
Looks to me like he could have actually gotten up any time he wanted to and it would have just come off. I didn’t see missing skin, i’m not wearing my glasses and I didn’t want to look super close, but I still didn’t see blood/missing flesh or anything.
Good one…..
Diabetes from a glued toilet seat.
Wow… I don’t even know where to begin. Wow…
Was this a terrible situation? YES
Is Home Depot liable for at least the humiliation part of this case? YES
Unfortunately, this is just going to open up every company to scam lawsuits. What is to say I couldn’t do this exact same thing at any store in America? Suffer a little ‘pain in the ass’ and sue for millions.
And the guy is 57 and it doesn’t appear that he is a specimen of the human body. He probably had diabetes before any of this ever happened.
Gluing your fat ass to a toilet seat WILL NOT give you diabetes…..
Damn.
@vanilla-fro: Ditto. It only appeared red in areas that normally don’t touch the seat.
@chinadoll724:
oh, I like it when you talk that way…..
To the editor, I find it rediculous that we can’t bash the “victim” because they did something idiotic and then try to blame someone else.
Hey, the guy is lucky he had a hairy ass to protect his skin.
I’m curious as to why they (Home Depot)thought it was a “hoax”.Does that happen alot there?
BTW,is it just me,or did the story remind anyone of those Beavis and Butthead cartoons where Beavis was The Great Cornholio?
“I need TP for my bunghole!”
I’ve done an informal poll among my friends about bathroom habits, there are two types of people in the world.
1) Me, who goes in and uses the bathroom. No cover, no nothing. Flush with my hands. Mom did that, I do that. Never thought anything of it (and then I wash and dry my hands of course).
2) Jerks, I mean, my friends who are the reason public bathrooms get covered in pee and/pieces of toilet paper because they just can’t sit down, and if they don’t have enough TP to do a seat cover they have to perch and pee all over the seat. AND then they use their feet to flush the handle. They are the reason why bathrooms are gross (I repeat). I think needed therapy after finding that out.
@CumaeanSibyl:
I think the whole idea is elevating the level of discourse around here. I got tired of people calling the JoAnn Fabrics customer an idiot who should have stayed home. Lots of people have good commentary to contribute, so people whose sole “contribution” is calling the OP or victim a ____ing _____ tend to muck up the works, don’t you think?
@wring:
ILU2
@Rectilinear Propagation:
Hard to say, as there are still some changes being made to the site. Do you have a suggestion/preference?
@MercuryPDX:
Maybe — that’d be up to Ben, Meghann, et. al. I’ve been reading Consumerist for a while, and I’d venture to say that the vast majority of commenters know what’s cool and what’s not cool.
@TheBigLewinski:
I’m not the editor, just someone who’s trying to help keep Consumerist a nice place to be. After all, if Consumerist started to suck, then what would we do when we’re supposed to be working?
@meiran: I think that most of that is being ascribed to the PTSD, not the diabetes.
There are three major ways that most Americans are saving for their future:
1. the lottery
2. an inheritance
3. winning a major lawsuit
I’m guessing this dude was/is hoping for #3. While I feel for his predicament (I’ve got a medical condition that sometimes requires *immediate* trips to the john), I can’t understand taking the time to observe your surroundings. There are also inconsistencies with his story as reported by the media and his story as outlined in the court documents. If he’s on the up-and-up, I’d expect his stories, especially WRT who made the call to emergency services, to match–and they don’t. Me thinks he is trying to be set for the rest of his life.
For me, I’m saving and investing. If I get any of the above, that’s bonus cash.
I’m trying to see this guys side of it, but it is really tough.
Stress could exacerbate an existing case of diabetes but would not create one out of the blue.
[health.yahoo.com]
He is going to have a very high burden of proof for this.
@Consumerist Moderator – ACAMBRAS: Maybe we can have a story here or better yet a discussion set up over at the Forums explaining how this all works (ie. Flagging, Yellow Cards, the ban hammer, etc.).
IIRC you were just introduced as the moderator, and the buttons (Flag post, follow commenter) just appeared with no warning, instructions, or discussion on their proper use/abuse. There’s nothing in the FAQ about any of it.
Well… I think this dudes a little out there and looking for a free ticket to wealth.
When I go into a restroom or even at home. I look where I sit my caboose. Lord knows I surely would sit on anything that looked wet, not to mention it had to stink of crazy glue… A hint of somethings not right… But then to sit your ass on something that was wet. Had I been blind enough to sit on it I surely would have got my white rear off it… What’s with people these days???
Stress hormones can increase blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. I’m not clear on whether stress hormones can increase blood glucose levels in perfectly heatlhy people such that they end up with diabetes. Said another way, this guy probably was already diabetic before the accident and just didn’t know (never diagnosed) or borderline diabetic.
I’m not sure how Home Depot is responsible for the glue on the seat (unless the store employee put said glue on the seat or Home Depot was on notice that jokesters were running rampant in the store, other incidents) but they should have come to his aid. I totally believe that this guy has am emotional damages claim (he had a toliet seat ripped off his bum).
I looked at the picture of his ass, doesn’t look like it was glued to anything. It’s only red in the middle area, as if he’d been sitting on the seat for along time. It’s not red where the seat was ‘torn’ off of him in the ambulance.
@anatak: As you said, cyanocrylate (Super Glue) does not dry immediately – especially not sitting there out in the open on a toilet seat – cyanocrylate is an anerobic adhesive, and only cures quickly in the absence of oxygen – so it’s plausible that when the customer sat down, the super glue had been present for some time, then cured quickly once the “meat met the seat”.
Still, I highly doubt virtually every other aspect of his tale of woe.
Nice to see all the ‘blame the victim’ folks rushed in to make obvious remarks, pushing more moderate and informative comments to the bottom of the thread.
@Leah:
Are you shure? I use super glue farly often, and it my case, it bonds to skin in like, 5 seconds.
This guy’s lawyer must be on crack. His client is describing major depression symptoms. Post tramatic stress over a toilet incedent? It’s not like surviving a train wreck. Oh well, at least we’ve proven that there are no loss prevention cameras in the HD bathroom.
If Home Depot employees truly dismissed his situation as a joke and left him there then that is a highly disappointing and distressing act. Furthermore, they should have been up front in offering his ambulance and medical costs (those associated with the toilet) out of principle alone, if not for the fact it happened on their property.
However. It is this man that allowed these events to ruin his life-not Home Depot. In that regard, I have no more sympathy for him than I might a person who uses his somewhat achy back as an excuse to force his wife to move all the boxes.
I think Home Depot needs to remedy this situation! Remove all toilet seats! Hell, why stop there, let’s put in Asian squat toilets in those stalls. No seats to get stuck to ever again!
HELP. I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! If someone in a public toilet tried to convince me they had their ass superglued to a seat, I probably would have thought I was being punk’d too. (Unless it was Larry Craig, but that’s a different bird..)
Unless they can prove it was a HD employee who pulled the prank, I don’t think they should be held liable. They can’t help it if people are asses and they’d be sued from here to Sunday if they put camera’s in the crappers.
@MercuryPDX:
I hear ya — I think your points are valid. I will make sure the editors see them (in case they haven’t seen them on this thread) — it’s really their show to run.
And the introduction was recent, but as Ben mentioned, I’ve been working behind the scenes for a little while — so the formal intro post the other day was one step in a process. Please don’t think I’m some evil hall monitor waiting to swing the banhammer at anyone, because I’m not. One of my favorite things about Consumerist is the comments feature, and I’m happy to be a part of helping keep the quality high.
Home depot should have come to his aid yes, they really cannot control what goes on in a public restroom, so if someone went in there and put superglue on it (this is assuming this guy did not glue himself to the toilet), they really are not responsible for whomever did that. Unfortunatly a retail store cannot control the behavior of customers. They should have helped him though, it did happen in their store, so they have a responsibility to help, and I don’t think you should ignore someone needing help either.
So who here would run in and help a guy screaming for help while he’s taking a #2?
Hey I actually used this as a current events thing in 11th grade! Funniest Social Studies class ever!
Sorry, Home Depot can be held liable for this. It happened in their bathroom, their store, on their property. It’s like someone coming over to your house to watch a football game on TV. They get drunk, leave your home and get in a car wreck. You would be held liable for that wreck.
I really do hope he wins.
@Consumerist Moderator – ACAMBRAS: I think a placeholder would be better than it disappearing altogether. That could get confusing, especially if people have commented to the flagged post. If you include a really brief description why it was removed that would be awesome (like ‘abusive’ or ‘spam’ or ‘irrelevant’).
This whole situation is an unfortunate mess. It is unfortunate that this guy was in a situation to have to use a public restroom in the first place. It is unfortunate that someone thought glue on a toilet seat was a funny joke. It is unfortunate that he did not get an immediate response to his request for help. (Frankly with the news full of things going on in public restrooms, are you going to be the one to open the door to figure out if he is a guy needing help or just a pervert getting his jollies?)
Having said that…. It happened at Home Depot, but Home Depot did not put the glue on the toilet seat. At some certain level, there has to be a limit on liability. There is no standard expectation of “glue on toilet seat” to check against. I understand being sued if it snows, you don’t shovel your walk and someone slips. That is a cause and effect that could have been predicted. Is infantile pranks a standard expectation in retail?
I also find PTSD a stretch. Can it occur from the humiliation of one short-lived event? Anything is possible I suppose. Still, it is usually something seen in times of war or severe violence. Diabetes is more often an issue of genetic disposition, but other factors can contribute. I do find it tenuous at best to say that this one event would be the cause, even if stress can be shown to contribute.
Finally, if this really is the second toilet seat gluing for this guy as some news outlets are saying, that would just say it all. One event is hard to believe, two would mean they should have checked his pockets and the drains for glue packets.
Oh God, I’m still laughing!! I can’t help it since i clicked on pics of his angry, bare ass!
Color me disappointed that “angry, red bare ass” isn’t a tag on this post.
As a med student, I thought I could chime in on this. Technically, it is possible to develop diabetes from stress, albeit indirectly. Here’s the boring explanation: Whenever the body experiences an acute stressor (e.g. sitting on a toilet seat and noticing your bum is superglued down), the adrenal glands release cortisol, a glucocorticoid steroid hormone. Cortisol helps activate your “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system response. Normally, a negative-feedback loop attenuates excess cortisol. However, chronic stress (e.g. anxiety brought on by constantly thinking about said toilet-ass, hospital bills and perceived diminished quality of life) can lead to resistance or adaptation. In this case, it can “inhibit the inhibition” of the negative-feedback, leading to a sustained high level of cortisol in the body. Glucocorticoids have side effects that include hyperglycemia and resistance to insulin. Prolonged hyperglycemia can cause diabetes. This steroid-induced diabetes is usually transient, but not always.
Alternatively, the prolonged stress can be severe enough to result in a “state of mental exhaustion,” which would include PTSD. Hypertension is a known effect of PTSD. Comorbid factors such as obesity and heart disease (this guy wasn’t too healthy to begin with) combined with hypertension = adult-onset diabetes.
This is an oversimplification, because I don’t want to get into the whole hypothalamic-pituitary axis
That said, and without the benefit of an entire medical history, I would agree with the poster above that this guy already had diabetes and wasn’t diagnosed, or that he was borderline. But, it is certainly possible, however unlikely, that an acute stress can become chronic can lead to diabetes.
I really shouldn’t have clicked the link for his “angry, red bare ass”
I missed the “washroom” part and couldn’t figure out for the entire article why this jackass took his pants down to test a toilet seat at Home Depot. LOL
You’d think someone working at Home Depot could have jogged down to the paint aisle and grabbed a can of assetone.
The simple solution to this would be to have someone actually check the bathrooms once an hour. A competent (although in stores, that can’t be relied on) employee would of found the person, calmed him down, called for the managers to get help, and also be able to take a toilet wrench and some WD-40 from the bathroom isle or Tool area to unbolt the toilet seat from underneath.
Of course, WD-40 could of been used to get the person unstuck. Ether way, the seat needs to be replaced and the tape pulled.
Regardless of how bad I feel, I am NOT sitting on any toilet seat unless I use a seat cover, or if there aren’t any, I wipe the seat. Then when I try to wipe the seat with TP and the TP sticks, I DON’T SIT DOWN!
@soulman901: Wrong, you show negligence by letting your drunk friend leave. If HD did not know about the glue, they could not have prevented this. They need to know about it to fix it. Should they be checking their restrooms on a regular basis? yes, but if they checked the restroom 30 minutes before this happened and they check them every two hours, they would not have known. this is especially true if there is a different bathroom for the employees.
also for the record: to all of you that think that just because you get hurt on someone elses property, it’s their fault…..wrong. It doesn’t matter where it happened at all, what matters is why it happened and how the owner of the property caused it or could have prevented it. God I hate when people think that just because they got hurt at some store the store owes them gobbs of money.
What if instead of putting glue on the toilet seat these asshats just all of a sudden rushed into the restroom and beat this guy into a pulp? is that HD’s fault? no, they had no prior knowledge of the situation. Same as this glue, they didn’t know about it.
@CaliforniaCajun: Chemistry was never my strong suit, but thanks for the lesson! That explains why a few drips on a metal tray will still be there in the morning – ready to stick to anything, but a drop on my thumb will bond to my forefinger in .2 seconds. Once again, thanks.
As for the rest of the story – I have no idea and really don’t care. I know nothing about PTSD or diabetes. Is it plausible that a couple of punks left a toilet seat / CA surprise only to have someone carelessly (or hurriedly) sit on it sometime later, resulting in an ass catastrophe? Yep. Does he have the right to sue HD for ignoring him, pain and mental anguish and all that + some medical bills. Sure. After that, you’ve lost me…
Here in N. California a Level III ER visit and an ambulance ride can easily be in the region of $20,000. If this guy didn’t have insurance then the $2,000 is not going to compensate him adequately.
Maybe I should sue City Hall for issuing me a marriage certificate to marry a man who doesn’t pick up his dirty cloths or dishes. Maybe then they’ll offer me $2,000 dollars, I can call it an insult & sue so I can afford a housekeeper…GENIUS!
Wait..if he was stuck to a toilet seat, how’d he know anyone who came in was a HD employee? Did they walk in saying, “I’m a Home Depot employee, I will now ignore anyone in here”.
@MissJ: “Tutankhamen old” LOL