Victim of gastric bypass: The tragic story of Annie Murray

7th August 2007

Victim of gastric bypass: The tragic story of Annie Murray

I first learned about the story of Annisha “Annie” Murray a week ago. I just haven’t had the heart to blog about it.

Annisha Murray didn’t want to be a 320-pound bride.

Engaged in March, Murray quickly sketched out her princess wedding: First, gastric bypass surgery in Mexico, where it’s cheap. A walk down the aisle at half her weight in the gown of her dreams. A romantic honeymoon in Italy.

But she would only make it to Mexico.

Eight days after surgery there, Annie Murray was dead. She was 21.

The spin of the article is on the dangers the 180,000 people who travel abroad to chase after “bargain-basement” prices for tummy tucks, face-lifts and dental work, procedures face. The article attributes Murray’s death to level of poor care she received in a Mexico hospital both before and after her gastric bypass procedure.

But regardless where you have it done, gastric bypass is a serious operation, with myriad health risks and always the possibility of death. I think the more appropriate focus of the story would be on why an otherwise healthy 21-year-old felt the need and pressure to have a completely unnecessary surgery which resulted in her premature death.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 11:26 am and is filed under Fat Bias, Health/Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On August 7th, 2007, Rio Iriri

said:

That’s really, really sad. I wonder if her fiance was at all supportive of her NOT losing weight, but I doubt either of them even counted it as an option.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

2 On August 7th, 2007, Celeste

It’s just so sad to consider that a woman’s priority is supposed to be to look a certain way. If that is the frame through which we view our lives, then life is truly not worth living for some who cannot attain an ideal.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

3 On August 7th, 2007, Charlynn

So, so sad.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

4 On August 7th, 2007, Meowser

She gained 70 pounds in 4-1/2 years? That sounds very much like the weight gain I had on Zoloft, except back then nobody thought SSRIs could put weight on people like that. If she was on a medication that made her gain weight, or had some other medical condition that was putting weight on her fairly quickly, it’s hard to imagine that even a “successful” WLS would have gotten her as thin as she imagined herself in her “princess wedding” fantasy. And yes, Rio, I too wonder about the fiance, who said he was “concerned about her health” because of all the weight gain; did they bother to rule out a medical cause first before attributing it solely to her greedy appetite?

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 2:38 pm

5 On August 7th, 2007, Swellanor

This adds a gruesome spin on MeMeMe!!Roth’s wedding gown challenge nonsense. It’s just so sad that someone felt that her weight was in the way of having a lovely wedding and happy marriage. I suspect that neither weddings nor sudden weight-loss are the ecstatic, life-changing, problem-fixing moments they are cracked up to be, but I haven’t experienced either. It’s so sad she died in pursuit of them.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

6 On August 7th, 2007, Rachel

The article mentions Murray was large even as a child. This suggests to me that perhaps she was just genetically larger than the average supermodel. And as for Zoloft Meowser - I still have doctors swear to me today it won’t make you gain weight.

Swellanor - I too thought of that challenge by She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

7 On August 7th, 2007, Meowser

“And as for Zoloft Meowser - I still have doctors swear to me today it won’t make you gain weight.”

It probably won’t, as long as you’re not on it for longer than 12 weeks. The clinical trials don’t go any longer than that, and as far as many docs are concerned, if it doesn’t happen during a clinical trial, it doesn’t happen, period. (I had an initial 10-pound loss, followed by 75 pounds of gain over 7 years of usage, most of it the first 5 years.)

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

8 On August 7th, 2007, Swellanor

The article also notes that she didn’t have insurance- which I think is another tragedy underlying this. I know that fat folks aren’t often treated well by the medical system, but it sounds like she didn’t have the chance to find good medical advice, and probably not any treatments for depression either. Just speculation.

posted on August 7th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

9 On August 9th, 2007, sirriamnis

I know this is hardly empirical data, but every single person I’ve known who has been on Zoloft has wound up gaining a substantial amount of weight.

posted on August 9th, 2007 at 2:16 pm

10 On August 11th, 2007, Kelli

I had massive weight gain on Zoloft too - about 75 pounds. When the doctor gave it to me postpartum he actually said “and you will love it, people tend to lose weight on it.” This was the same day the “therapist” told me that I had post partum depression because I was overweight and if I started a diet and lost some weight it would go away.

posted on August 11th, 2007 at 8:03 am

11 On May 2nd, 2008, All Nine Billion Bajillion Calories « Pregnant Drug-Dealing Prostitutes said:

[...] do, I can’t stop you but eat more than 800 calories a day and don’t over-exercise and try to avoid people who want to chop your tummy to pieces for money. Secret sauce does that for free! I know! Get some nice clothes, good food and go out and [...]

posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 am

12 On April 18th, 2009, Lindsy