Another WLS Tragedy

[bigmac]

I'm posting this on the main board because I think this information could be useful to the wider BBW/FA community.

My best friend's mother just died at the age of 65, less than two months after she had a gastric bypass. She was diabetic and one of the primary reasons she had WLS was to control her diabetes -- another, ironically, was so that she could live longer for her grandchildren.

Its well known that diabetes affects circulation -- most commonly impairing circulation to the feet and lower legs. What is less commonly known is that diabetes can also adversely affect circulation to the internal organs. This is exactly what happened to my friend's mother. The circulation to her stomach and intestines had been compromised by her diabetic condition so that after WLS her stomach did not heal. Instead of healing her stomach basically disintegrated. This eventually led to peritonitis, then sepsis, and shortly thereafter a very unpleasant death.

WLS is being sold as an almost instant cure for diabetes these days. Hopefully surgeons who are operating on diabetic patients (especially those who are not young or who have had diabetes for many years) will know enough to evaluate internal vascularity before surgery. Unfortunately at least on doctor did not.

[toni]

I am sorry to hear of your friends loss. This makes me very sad. Why would they operate on someone of that age and condition? It is a shame that some doctors only see dollar signs when treating a patient.

[Tooz]

I don't know if I agree with the fact this was moved

[Miss Vickie]

Tooz, where was it moved from?

Bigmac I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's mom. That is incredibly sad. Clearly, from the outside it seems that they should have evaluated her health before determining whether she was fit for surgery. Unfortunately, people who are diabetic do have a harder time healing, and if the surgical site cannot heal, then there's really nothing that can be done. Again, from the outside and only knowing what you've written in your post, it seems that getting her diabetes under better control before surgery should have been the priority. It's possible that this may have happened anyway, but usually the better control a diabetic has before surgery, the quicker and less complicated is their recovery.

I'm so sorry. Her loved ones must be devastated.

[Adrian]

Bigmac, I am sorry to hear of your friend's mother's death. Even sadder is the fact that people are still dying from weight loss surgery. When my wife had WLS back in May of 1972, nation-wide one out of every three patients of WLS died. Canada outlawed the surgery for a long while because of the death rate. When I heard the surgery had picked up in popularity, 'I assumed' that the death rate had dropped dramatically in the last thirty-seven years. Sad to hear people are still dying from this surgery, especially when better testing of the prospective patient can eliminate many of these problems.

[Shosh]

I am sorry to hear of your friends loss. This makes me very sad. Why would they operate on someone of that age and condition? It is a shame that some doctors only see dollar signs when treating a patient.

That is what I thought. I think with her being 65 years old and having diabetes she should not have been considered for that procedure.

[Tooz]

The Main board.

[shadowmaker87]

bigmac im sorry 4 ur loss!! really am ! my wife is borderline diabetic n she overweight , n she wants tht surgery done too but i told her no i heard too many good n horror stories bout it ; but i guess it depends on the person ! Again bigmac im sorry!

[mel]

I am so sorry for the loss of you family member. (((hug)))