Woman too fat for operation is too thin for weight loss surgery

Woman too fat for operation is too thin for weight loss surgery
A woman who was considered too fat for a hernia operation has now been told she is not heavy enough to be given weight loss surgery.

By Nigel Bunyan Telegraph U.K

Jo Thompson, who is 5ft tall and weighs nearly 18 stone, has found herself in the Catch 22 situation after years of failed dieting.
?I have always had a problem with my size,? she said today. ?I have tried every diet going to lose weight.
?In the last two years I?ve cut down on my portions, and although I can?t afford to go to the gym I do a lot of walking.?
Miss Thompson, 37, from Parson Cross, Sheffield, recently complained to her doctor about heartburn and indigestion.
He referred her to a specialist at the city?s Royal Hallamshire Hospital, telling her he thought she needed a hernia operation.
However, the consultant there said she was too big to undergo the procedure and instead recommended the gastric bypass. This, he said, would help her lose weight and thereby ease the hernia problem.
?But when I saw another doctor I was told I could not have the bypass surgery because I am not heavy enough.
?It?s a crazy situation and I just don?t know what to do. I?m not obese enough to have a gastric bypass, but I?m too big to have the hernia operation.
Miss Thompson, whose body mass index is 46, went on: ?It seems I must my body mass index to 40 to have the hernia operation or increase it to 50 to have gastric bypass surgery. It?s a crazy situation and I seem to be caught in the middle?.
The refusal by staff at Royal Hallamshire to carry out the bypass operation while Miss Thompson?s BMI remains below 50 has been criticised by a specialist health group.
Dr Matt Capehorn, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "Under National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines, patients who have unsuccessfully tried other weight loss methods should be considered for surgery if their BMI is above 40.
"Sheffield NHS have been very short-sighted in their view of the funding for this operation because the surgery would pay for itself within three years.?
He added: ?They are not following NICE guidelines and are therefore leaving this woman in a state of limbo."
A spokesman for NHS Sheffield confirmed that the trust had turned down Miss Thompson?s request to have the operation.
Its criteria on the issue had been set by the Yorkshire and Humber Specialised Commissioning Group and was therefore in line with the rest of the county.
The procedure was always used as a last resort ?because it is a very serious operation.?