Not fat enough for weight loss op?
Posted: 21/01/2010 at 06:16pm by Rich Leigh,weight loss expert, Fat Free Fitness
There’s only one story in the UK related to obesity worth reporting today, and this is the story which the wider press has picked up on due to its headline grabbing basis.
In short, surgeons from The Royal College of Surgeons have warned that severely obese patients are being denied weight loss ops, despite the fact that they qualify for them, fulfilling the criteria of a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or over.
The RCS fears that many obese patients have to put on more weight - or develop life-threatening complications before the NHS in some parts of the country will agree to reduce the size of their stomachs – a statement which has had the tabloid press clamouring to announce that experts are urging the obese to 'eat more and get fatter’.
The surgeons claim that in some parts of the country, primary care trusts will only consider operating on patients with a BMI of 50 or even 60, despite the previously mentioned nationally accepted criteria.
I have one thing to say to readers: please don’t let the tabloid agenda affect your outlook. If you are being denied surgery you feel you need, to put on weight would be entirely wrong – and would give the worst possible example to children, family members and people who may even weigh less than you. These people may then see it as the quicker, simpler way to lose weight, when compared to a healthy lifestyle.
Surgeon Professor Mike Larvin said: "In many regions the criteria are being raised to save money.
"Patients are being denied life-saving and cost-effective treatments and effectively encouraged to eat more in order to gain a more risky operation down the line."
According to reports, patients lose 70% of their excess weight within 18 months of surgery, curing almost all cases of obesity-related Type II diabetes. Statistics show that despite the high cost of the surgery, £10,000, the bill for treating medical complications of obesity are so high that surgery pays for itself within three years – assuming that the individual doesn’t lose the weight they need to.
Despite the fact that around 240,000 ‘severely obese’ patients want the operation, just 4,300 had surgery on the NHS in the last year.
With regards to the news, the Department of Health said surgery should only be used as a last resort once diet and lifestyle changes had failed, something that I entirely second.
The fact is, weight loss operations such as gastric band bypass surgery, also known as stomach stapling, are not something to be taken lightly. I sincerely hope those patients who aren’t being put forward for the operation; whether they meet the nationally agreed criteria or not, aren’t simply waiting for the NHS to change their mind and are physically trying to lose weight themselves. As soon as a person gives up the responsibility for their own weight and puts it in the hands of others, even with medical intervention, it’s difficult to get that person to accept the fact that maintaining a healthy weight comes courtesy of a healthy lifestyle. 
Obese patients are apparently being 'encouraged to put on weight to qualify for surgery'
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