"10k freebie blast"
By Martina Smit and agencies
7:01AM GMT 13 Mar 2008
An American woman's body had became attached to her boyfriend's toilet after she sat on it for two years, police in Kansas said.
"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," said Bryan Whipple, the sheriff of Ness County.
It appeared Pam Babcock's skin had grown around the toilet seat, he added. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."
The 35-year-old initially refused emergency medical care but her boyfriend, 36, and police officers finally convinced her to go to hospital.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Mr Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."
The county attorney still has to decide whether any charges should be brought against Kory McFarren, the boyfriend.
Mr McFarren told investigators that he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.
"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow'," Mr Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
The house in Ness City had a second bathroom that he could use.
On Feb 27, Mr McFarren called police to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend", Mr Whipple said, adding that the man never explained why it took him two years to pick up the phone.
Officers found Miss Babcock sitting on the toilet - fully clothed, except for her tracksuit bottoms pulled down to her mid-thigh.
She was "somewhat disoriented" and her legs looked like they had atrophied, the sheriff said. "She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave."
She was taken to a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles away, where she is in a fair condition.
However, Miss Babcock has since refused to speak to police. Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.
James Ellis, a neighbour, said Miss Babcock's mother died at a young age and she was apparently mostly kept inside the house where she grew up.
"It really doesn't surprise me," Mr Ellis said of the bathroom incident. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."
