Did anyone watch Half Ton Teen/Half Ton Son several years back? The kid was 800+ pounds and (mostly) confined to bed. His mother was a serious enabler, but what struck me was that she had lost another child at a very young age (18 months maybe?) to something completely stupid and unforeseen and she admitted she totally indulged her surviving child with treats and felt that was her way of showing love, as what kid doesn't like it when their mother or father lavishes them with goodies? It was really sad for the kid, and I felt really sad for the mother, too because she KNEW she had to change but the enabler/dependent role was so firmly in place they encountered a lot of resistance from each other. For the bed bound, there's not much else to do but watch TV, cruise the internet, and eat. Even if the enabler/caretaker/whomever decides the bedridden is no longer going to receive (insert food/calories, etc), they're probably going to be subjected to a LOT of resistance from the bedridden person who has little else to do. It's frustrating to watch ("why don't they just stop eating junk food?"), but sad as well because once that way of life is implanted firmly for all parties, it's hard to change it up. The last thing anyone wants to see is someone they care about in that state, and in the short run it's easier to give them what they want (in terms of food) and let them be "happy" for the time it takes for that food to disappear.
Just my take on this situation, of course!
Last I heard, the kid in the documentary was doing well and had lost several hundred pounds and was no longer spending 90% of his life in bed. He seemed happier and proud of his accomplishments and had learned good eating habits, and his mom seemed to have realized that letting her son become a young man with a life of his own was truly her job (as a mother) and all seemed well.
(The thing I hate hate HATE about documentaries is you follow these people for an hour or more, into their personal lives, and many times you feel like you've met them in person and know them and come to care about them. And very rarely do they offer updates, aside from a 2-3 minute short take. I watched a really well done documentary about a certain mental hospital and many of the patients were quite helpful (to those with the cameras) and seemed to want to get the word out that even those suffering from mental disabilities still have feelings, relationships, lives, and people they care about. And they never did an update. Drives me mad!)