Mother Of Six, Dies Just Days After Gastric Bypass Surgery

[MissThing]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...LTH&ICL=TOPART

The deceased (42) had a gastric band fitted several years prior, but when she began to gain weight again, she opted for gastric bypass.

It's terrbile for the family she leaves behind and I just hope it makes more people realise that these operations are terrbly dangerous, and for a lot of people, unnecesary.

[V-240]

Damn, that is BEYOND sad. I thought those surgeries were reserved for the truly morbidly obese, like the ones that can't walk anymore.

[jude-o]

The reported DEATH rate from gastric bypass surgery is around 2%.

For the love of god people, learn to put down the fork before getting cut up. Yes, for some people it's an invaluable treatment, but it's only appropriate for people who are too psychologically unsound(1) to lose weight by normal means.


1. Yep, I said it. And I mean it. If you are willing to risk death from morbid obesity rather than eat less, you are messed up in the head. No, I don't want to hear your theories on how you have 'fat genes' and 'metabolic imbalances'. Maybe it is a lot harder for some people, but you still choose how to live (and eat.)

[V-240]

2% is still too high to take such a drastic measure casually, IMHO anyway. I looked into it once and decided no thanks!

Ever see those TLC and Discovery Health shows like "Half Ton Man", "Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic", or "I Eat 33,000 Calories a Day", etc.? *S C A R Y* stuff!!!

Myself, I am doing it the slow and old fashioned way. Eat better, exercise regularly. Lift cars, well okay, PUSH cars, lift weights. It may take me years, but I'm okay with that. I love the lifestyle!

[Bando]

This reminds me of an exercise I used to lose weight - "pushbacks." To perform the exercise: when eating and getting to the point where you are no longer hungry, place both hands on the table and push yourself back away from the food.

[Scottie311]

Damn, that is BEYOND sad. I thought those surgeries were reserved for the truly morbidly obese, like the ones that can't walk anymore.

And the thing is...for those that can't walk anymore...SOMEBODY is bringing them the food!

[oldsuperman]

I know many people that have had gastric bypass and it has been a wonderful and marvelous improvement in their lives and their families as well. I know of some where it didn't work for them as they didn't change their habits or life styles.

I don't feel it is for us to judge weather it is right or wrong for them. Obese people are on track of self destruction and if this will work for them, then God bless them. I hope for their happiness and success. The alternative for so many is worse. ed

[V-240]

And the thing is...for those that can't walk anymore...SOMEBODY is bringing them the food!

I know, and sometimes they get very clever with their food deliveries. One of the "33,000 Calorie" guys would call a local Chinese deli on his cell and order a ton of fried everything, and the delivery kid would wait on the street, several floors down, for the guy to lower a basket out of his bedroom window with the money. The kid puts the food in the basket and the guy pulls it up, probably the only exercise he got. This way his family wouldn't know until after the fact. Good grief!!!!

But the woman that is the topic of this thread wasn't nearly in the kind of awful state these really super-morbid folks get into. This is why it seems doubly sad. I'm with you, Old Supe, I'm not judging them. If you really need it, you need it. I'm even a member of a yahoo discussion group of gastric bypass patients, even though it's not for me. Their stories will make your hair stand on end!

[Wooly_Ace]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...LTH&ICL=TOPART

The deceased (42) had a gastric band fitted several years prior, but when she began to gain weight again, she opted for gastric bypass.

It's terrbile for the family she leaves behind and I just hope it makes more people realise that these operations are terrbly dangerous, and for a lot of people, unnecesary.

My sympathies to the family. A loss, no matter how it happened, is tragic. I agree with your assessment that these are very dangerous procedures. That is why I am sharing this profile with all of you if you have not already seen it. There are no words that can discribe what Dave has done without surgery. See for yourself.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/David630lbs/

[LongnHard]

Damn, that is BEYOND sad. I thought those surgeries were reserved for the truly morbidly obese, like the ones that can't walk anymore.

I think if you are +100 pounds overweight you qualify?

[V-240]

I think if you are +100 pounds overweight you qualify?

I think you also have to have some co-morbidities like hypertension, sleep apnea, fatty liver. Hey, wait! I'm IN!

Yes, that's right, a lot of the patients aren't bed bound. The ones that are tend to be in desperate need of these drastic measures. Even then, it is NOT a quick fix some think it is. You still have to completely change your lifestyle. I asked myself why I needed surgery to change my lifestyle if I can change it on my own. Answer is, I DON'T!! But, I never weighed 400 lbs. So it wasn't for me.

People need to manage their own lifestyles according to whatever strengths they have. This fast food mentality is going to kill us!

[V-240]

...I am sharing this profile with all of you if you have not already seen it. There are no words that can discribe what Dave has done without surgery. See for yourself.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/David630lbs/

WOW! That is some transformation, and without any bariatric surgery. Amazing.

[ScubaDave]

Here's another editor that should be fired...immediately if not sooner. This is terribly irresponsible journalism. Please note that I am generally not in favor on these types of surgeries - however, I am in favor of holding journalists to a high degree of ethics and accuracy in reporting.

As tragic as this story is, please keep in mind that the woman died of heart disease. The pathologist is unable to determine whether or not the gastric bypass surgery had any causative effect on her heart stopping. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but the fact remains that we don't know. The newspaper article takes a position, although it is never directly stated, that somehow the surgery is responsible for her death. This is highly misleading. She could have gone in for gall bladder surgery and had the same result.

[kondor]

There is a massive difference between gall bladder surgery and a 200Lb woman having a gastric bypass though.

One of them is necessary, one of them isn't

[oldsuperman]

There is a massive difference between gall bladder surgery and a 200Lb woman having a gastric bypass though.

One of them is necessary, one of them isn't

Again, this is a personal choice. I read about a woman that died getting breast implants. The point is people die for a number a reasons during surgery.

I had a reaction to a topical numbing gel during the prep of oral surgery. My throat closed, blood pressure sky rocketed and 911 was called. When I came to, they said it was a close call. Did I have the surgery later? Of course, yet, it was a close call. Point is, it is a choice people make and take on the consequences of those choices. Some are life and death. Just driving a car these days are a life and death choice, yet, most still drive.

Yet again, having many friends, at least 10 I can think of that had a very successful surgery and 8 had amazing results and all were extremely positive about the whole process. What they choose to do, if it will make them healthier and happier, then kudos to them. ed

[ScubaDave]

There is a massive difference between gall bladder surgery and a 200Lb woman having a gastric bypass though.

One of them is necessary, one of them isn't

My point was not about whether the surgery was necessary, but that the fashion in which the newspaper article is written creates in the mind of the reader that there is a cause and effect relationship between this specific type of surgery and the woman's death when in fact no such conclusion can be drawn.

Perhaps I'm ranting a bit, but we tend to see this a lot when it comes to writing on health issues - be they medications, surgeries, cholesterol levels, fat intake, or the latest diet fad. Somehow a single data point is construed to indicate a trend, and it feeds the hysteria factor. The surgery is not the point for me - it's the editor who allows the kind of story to published as written in such a way as to draw invalid conclusions.

[V-240]

Those editors don't get fired, they get raises.

[ScubaDave]

Those editors don't get fired, they get raises.

You are SO right blabber.

[kondor]

Perhaps I should have explained a bit as I kinda forgot there are some cultural differences. See, It was free for her to have it done on the NHS (national health service is 100% paid for by taxes). It took place in a private hospital which charged a fee but the hospital was paid the fee to do it by the NHS. So in effect our taxes money paid a private hospital 100% of its fee to do this.

I just personally think that this was a case of "personal choice" as superman said, and not "essential".

So what we have here is a risky operation (I would call 2% fatality risky) paid for 100% by taxes when there are essential cancer meds not being given out due to lack of funds. Its all well and good folks having risky unnecessary operations, but depriving someone of cancer meds in order to do it seems a bit much.

PS, that paper is very right wing btw.

[JOHN GARGANI]

after reading the whole article, I feel that the journalist was fair in his approach and assessment.....


they made obvious from the start, that she had a heart defect and pointed out the potential stress of an operation on such an individual.


All this goes to show, is that we have to take EVERY operation very seriously: the "ease" of the actual procedure is a fooler: just being "under" is a tremendous stress to the body.

When I did my hospital residency ( not required for Dentists, but I wanted to do it), I spent 6 weeks with the Anesthesiology dept. , and by the end of the 6 weeks, I was doing the entire thing by myself: you don't even want to know all that goes on with your body, from that end, regardless of what the surgeon is doing....


there are all sorts of mini-crises that show up , that the anesthesist handles on his own without consulting the surgical doctor. And everything is regulated, up and down, with various medications: Blood pressure goes too low, add this, goes too high, add this, etc. Really: if you were to watch just one of these from that perspective, you would look at it in an entirely different way.


All operations are dangerous and risky, all of them.....

[97LT1]

The fact is she left behind six kids....sad.

[NuclearArms]

Just points out that all these "elective surgeries" are not without risk. Sometimes you have to deal with your issues in a traditional manner instead of a quick fix.