Second Lap Band Surgery Death Brings Much Needed Scrutiny
A second death linked by a coroner’s report to the weight-loss surgery performed at a Beverly Hills clinic may prompt state regulators to take a closer look at the procedures marketed by TopSurgeons.
The tragedy of Ana Renteria’s life was in the way it ended: her body ravaged by infection 10 days after she had the Lap-Band weight-loss operation advertised on those billboards and radio spots bearing the phone number 1-800-GET-THIN.
Renteria, who had long struggled with her 240-pound frame, had been in almost constant pain ever since the operation, says her sister, Noemi Luna.
“I remember her telling me, it’s not getting any better,” Luna recalled. When Renteria called the clinic where she had the operation to complain, Luna said, she was told the discomfort was natural. “They said that’s how it’s going to feel.”
Five days after the Lap-Band operation, the 33-year-old office worker awoke gasping for breath, according to Luna and the Los Angeles coroner’s report on Renteria’s death.
At Lakewood Regional Medical Center she repeatedly went into cardiac arrest, the coroner’s report states. She died shortly after midnight last Feb. 14, while friends and family members filled a hospital waiting room and prayed for a miracle.
Luna saw her just before she slipped into a coma. “I saw the desperation on her face,” she told me. “That said everything.”
Renteria’s death may finally prompt California’s medical regulators to take a close look at the weight-loss surgeries marketed by an outfit called TopSurgeons through the 1-800-GET-THIN number.
The Medical Board of California informed Renteria’s family July 27 that it was reviewing the medical care she had received from Dr. Atul Madan, who is identified by the coroner as her surgeon at a Beverly Hills clinic connected to the billboard campaign. The letter asked the family to release Renteria’s medical records so the review could proceed. The case was referred to the medical board by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which attributed Renteria’s death to complications from her surgery.
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