Interesting article in the LA Times
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Interesting article in the LA Times
| Thu, 02-19-2004 - 5:06pm |
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fat19feb19,1,55042.story?coll=la-home-local
The article is about "fat activists" who are upset with bariatric surgery. I'd be curious to hear what others think. No comment from me until later.

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The newspaper ad inviting fat people to learn about El Camino Hospital's new weight-loss surgery program held out the opportunity to be not just a thinner person, but a better one.
"It's not what you have to lose," the Mountain View, Calif., hospital ad said. "It's what you have to gain. Pride. Dignity. And Better Health."
Marilyn Wann, 5-feet-5, 270 pounds and darn proud of it, scanned the ad and fumed: How dare they imply that fat people are not proud, or that dignity is reserved for the thin? Wann threw down the newspaper. Then she smiled and began to e-mail her friends.
At the hospital's weight-loss surgery workshop in October, Wann and a handful of others blended into the crowd, most of them at least 100 pounds heavier than doctors say they should be. They listened to the surgeons — then Wann blew a whistle.
The infiltrators jumped up, whipped off their clothes and, clad only in bathing suits (Wann in a pink two-piece), danced through the stunned audience with the words "Fat+Pride" and "Fat+Dignity" marked on their stomachs.
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Even measuring mortality, however, is a point of contention between the medical establishment and activists. Many surgeons only count deaths that occur within 30 days of surgery. But activists say that adverse consequences are progressive and that degenerative conditions can occur as long as 15 years after surgery. Many cite long lists of friends they believe died from surgery or its complications.
One of the most recent studies of patient mortality, reported in a paper presented to the American College of Surgeons in October, found that the surgery or its complications led to death in 2% of patients who had undergone the operation in the past 15 years.
But the study also found that the likelihood of survival depended on the experience of the surgeon, said Dr. David Flum of the University of Washington. Patients of surgeons who had performed fewer than 20 operations were 4.7 times more likely to die than others — a finding that underscores activists' concerns about the number of doctors entering the field.
The National Institutes of Health only began to look at the long-term risks of the surgery last year.
Clinical trials should have been done 30 years ago, said Flum. He said more needed to be known about "the price we pay for getting that significant weight loss." Nevertheless, the benefits of bariatric surgeries are clear, he said.
"We've found a couple of amazing things," he said. "The hunger drive is almost completely lost. Also, hypertension and problems related to joints improve dramatically, and 85% of people who had diabetes before surgery" see their blood sugar levels return to normal.
Many of those who have undergone the procedure credit it with saving their lives.
Walter Lindstrom, a San Diego attorney specializing in obesity issues, insisted that it saved his, and that of many of his clients. He called the activists' opposition to the surgery "antiquated."
"I'm in lock-step with them on some things, like discrimination, but now you really do have to accept this is no longer voodoo medicine and treat it with the respect of any other medically necessary procedure."
Hmmmmm..vey interesting indeed...While I dont think it very dignified to run around in a pink two piece with the words fat pride written on me (lol) I say to each his own...Some people have done all they can to lose weight and may think bariatric surgery is their only out...I cant say I havent considered it..but Joes best friends buddy had the surgery and died from complicatioins...thats not the norm of course but I am too chicken chit to go under the knife for somehting like that....But I also have a couple of friends who have done the surgery and have come out successful and are now thin and happy...funny but they do still have the same problems they had before IE bad relationships money problems etc etc just with less weight...Losing weight is a life changing experience in my opinion but you have to work on the inside also...
So I guess my opinion on this is whatever works for you...doesn't work for me but thats ok..our differences is what makes the world go round . (btw as I have said before I am totally FA but I am wanting to change me..doesnt make me better or worse just my own opinion and I will shut up now as I keep going on and on lol)
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