A dramatic rescue ended tragically in Florida Wednesday when a woman died after being stuck to her couch.

Rescuers responded to a call at the Martin County home of a woman who was having trouble breathing.

The difficulty arose when emergency workers failed, after six hours, to dislodge 480-pound Gayle Laverne Grinds, from the couch in her home.

Workers said the home was filthy, and Grinds, 40, was too large to get up from the couch, even to use the bathroom.

Authorities estimate that she had been on the couch anywhere from two to six years. Her skin had reportedly grafted to the fabric in the couch.

Rescuers removed a sliding glass door in order to lift the couch, with the woman on it, and load it onto a trailer behind a pickup truck.

She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, Orlando, still attached to the couch.

A preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the cause of death as "morbid obesity."