Sometimes, the stories on "My 600-lb Life" seem unreal because the patients behave so outrageously delusional. It's hard to believe the morbidly obese can be so controlling and yet lacking in self-control. But obesity is an addiction and that's addict behavior, as Steven Assanti shows. The 800-lb man might be the most pointy-headed of all Dr. Nowzaradan's treatment-resistant patients. The opioid drug addict uses every excuse in the book to get his pain meds. On part 2 of Steven's story, his enabling caregiver dad finally confronts his son's obesity, drug addiction, failed weight loss and faked pain.
Steven Assanti proves Dr. Phil right
Dr. Phil McGraw called Steven Assanti a con artist. The 800-lb man was kicked out of a bariatric surgery program for ordering pizza. He appeared on the show after his Youtube videos "FatBoyGetDown" went viral. Steven bullied everyone into enabling his addictions. When Assanti came to "My 600-lb Life" for gastric bypass surgery, he kept exploiting and terrorizing staff till Dr. Now kicked him out. Dad Steven Assanti Sr. was duped into thinking obesity was the biggest problem, till Dr. Nowzaradan exposed Steven's opoid drug habit and the manipulative ways he'd get his fix.
Steven Assanti scams hospitals
The morbidly obese man had quite the system for obtaining prescription pain meds "legally." When he entered rehab to detox, he explained how he amassed hundreds of Vicodin and hydrocodone pills in one month, by ER-hopping.
He'd call for a non-emergency ambulance, using leg pain as his excuse. Steven would lie and say his pain was over level 8 and docs would have give him an IV of Dilaudid. Then he'd take home prescriptions for more oxycodone and Tramadol pain pills. While he was high he'd mindlessly overeat. When he went into withdrawal, he'd abuse everyone.
Steven Assanti Sr. calls son's malingering
Dad was Steven's biggest enabler of food. But about the drug addiction, he got his son's M.O. When Assanti fell off a golf cart, he put on a show of being in terrible pain. He called the ambulance and his father told them he was straight up faking to get drugs. But the EMTs had to do their job.
He must have been pretty convincing at the hospital. Dr. Now had a list of his visits in one month. Steven had managed to get 39 prescriptions from 17 different hospitals for a total of around 2,500 Tramadol, hydrocodone, Vicodin and other painkillers. Steven did manage to lose weight on "My 600-lb Life" but not because of dad's threats. He finally heard the wakeup call from Dr. Nowzaradan, stopped feeling sorry for himself and weaned off the drugs. Now he may be able to finally get gastric bypass surgery on the reality television show. He hopes his 600-lb brother Justin Assanti will get help too.
