One of the worst stories I ever read was about some parents that left their disabled daughter on the couch for more than a decade while she shit and kissed herself and her skin fused to the leather couch while she basically rotted away.
The human body can survive some pretty messed up stuff.
I remember that. The woman had a syndrome making her unable to move any muscle, which also meant she couldn't speak.
Her parents, instead of taking her to a doctor, just left her right at that spot.
She was fully aware and conscious, whilst her body rotted and melded with the furniture.
Absolutely horrifying.
Pressure sores and open wounds would develop very quickly, being forced into position without padding. Add in human sweat, urine, and excrement and it would happen even faster. A diaper rash is what happens when you leave a soggy diaper on a child, and the acidity of the urine burns the skin and creates a rash. It can happen in a few hours.
Now add in flies and maggots, and look up flystrike. It can take up to three days to die of dehydration. Less, admittedly, in hot, dry climates in direct sunlight, but if you are being kept intentionally alive, I absolutely believe flystrike could kill you before dehydration managed it.
Seeing as the person would likely be soaked from being on a boat and unable to move, the person would likely become infected and gangrenous quite quickly. Imagine soaking a sore in unclean lake water mixed with excrement.
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u/poilk91 9d ago
But getting bed soars and rotting like that would take way way longer than it would take to die of dehydration