The Pluses and Minuses of Weight-Loss Surgery

Re “Fat, and Happy About It,” Feb. 19: I have been a fat person for most of my 58 years on this Earth. I have never met another fat person who is proud and happy about his or her weight. I have attended “fat pride” groups and found them full of angry people who resented anyone who weighed less than they did.

Although it is a burden to be fat in today’s world, all of the bariatric surgeries, past and present, carry horrifying risks that have caused the death and severe ill health of many overweight people. I personally know of two people who have died from the complications of today’s popular surgeries, and many more whose health has been ruined permanently.

I strongly feel that more research is needed to uncover the reasons for obesity -- believe me, just pushing away from the table doesn’t work.

Obesity is a disease that needs a cure.

J.B. DeVoe

Pasadena

*

I am one of the 103,200 people who had weight-loss surgery in 2003. It has been three months since my surgery. I have lost 70 pounds, and I have 70 pounds to lose. I was “lured” to the surgery by my high cholesterol level, increasing blood pressure, swollen ankles and, most of all, my responsibility to be here for the two children my husband and I brought into this world.

I was sick of living life on the sidelines. Life is too short to fight movie theaters and airlines for bigger seats; to fight amusement parks for larger turnstiles and longer seat belts or bars, to protest every business that has bathrooms I had to squeeze into. Walking up the hill to my daughter’s soccer game left me breathless. My joints and back ached. Physically, at 48, I felt miserable.

Now I have no aches or pains. I cannot express how much better I feel physically. I ride with my kids at Disneyland; I don’t just wave and watch. I do agree that we live in a “fat-hating society.” However, every obese person has the right to deal with this discrimination in his or her own way.

Weight-loss surgery was my choice. This is a weight-loss tool, and that is what the surgeons will tell you. It can fail, if you don’t work at it. The vast majority of people contemplating the surgery have done months, if not years, of research and are fully aware of the possible complications. At my introductory seminar my surgeon was completely open and honest about the risks.

Beverly L. Hanes-Simon

San Clemente