Google me: Last-resort way to shed those big kilos

By ALEXIS GRANT

Donna Awatere Huata may be happy to know that a Google search for "stomach stapling" does not bring up her name and photo.

She appeared in the Auckland District Court this week for a depositions hearing after being accused of using money from the Pipi Foundation educational trust to pay for the procedure.

So what does Google have to say about stomach stapling?

Weight loss for good explains that stomach stapling, or gastric bypass surgery, is a last-resort treatment for people who are severely obese and have been unable to lose weight through dieting and exercise.

People with a body mass index of 35 or more, especially those with diabetes or high blood pressure, can be considered for the procedure.

The two types of surgery available include restrictive surgery, where the size of the patient's stomach is reduced so the patient feels full after eating a small amount of food, and malabsorptive surgery, in which the digestive track is shortened to reduce the amount of food the body can absorb.

To see the surgery, check online, says a site called Supermarket Guru.

It reported that a US hospital hosted a live webcast of a stomach stapling surgery late last year.

The site, www.supermarketguru.com/page.cfm/5152, also reported that a third of people polled said they could "imagine having stomach stapling surgery". That's not surprising considering about 103,000 of the procedures were scheduled in the US this year.

For those who don't want to pay for the costly procedure, there's the do-it-yourself stomach-stapling kit, available for just US$69.99, says the tabloid Weekly World News.

It's called the Belly-Buster Kit, and it comes with disposable scalpels, an industrial staple gun, and a 22-minute instructional video.

But even if you don't do it yourself, stomach stapling can kill, says a BBC News report.

In one patient, "doctors discovered gastric juices had leaked into her system through a tear in her stomach lining, causing peritonitis which eventually led to her death".

Reuters also reports the risks at Healthy Pages.

It says severely obese patients "are at high risk for complications from the surgery itself and because their weight makes them poor surgical candidates". For that reason, the "operation should not be considered a cosmetic procedure," a Reuters source said.

But for some patients, the procedure can be life-saving.

A 41-year-old American shed 180kg from his 338kg frame in two years after having his stomach stapled, MSNBC reports.