Obese Twins Fight For Weight Loss Surgery

O K L A H O M A   C I T Y, Jan. 16 -- Like many overweight students, fraternal twins Tanya and Trisha Hence have gotten used to the taunts of their classmates. Both are morbidly obese.

But recently the 18-year-old high school seniors from Oklahoma City have been in a bigger fight: trying to get their health insurers to provide coverage for weight loss surgery that their mother believes will save their lives.

Tanya, who weighs 425 pounds, has developed a pinched nerve in her back and walks with a cane. Both she and Trisha, who weighs 380 pounds, suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

If the girls were anorexic, they'd be able to get medical coverage for treatment, but Medicaid is reluctant to cover patients when the scales tip the other way, the girls' mother, Tina Chauvin, said. Each of the girls hopes that gastric bypass surgery will help them drop 200 pounds.

Doctors at the Physicians Hospital of Oklahoma said they would do the surgery for free. But the twins are not alone in their problem with getting coverage for this type of surgery.

Not a Quick Fix

Gastric bypass surgery blocks most of the stomach by either stapling part of the stomach closed, or by creating a small stomach pouch that serves as a reservoir and connects directly to the intestine.

If there are no complications, patients can return to their daily lives, eating very small amounts of food, within six weeks after the surgery. Since the surgery reduces stomach size, patients will begin losing weight immediately.

In some instances, however, there can be troublesome side effects including vomiting, explosive diarrhea, and cramping. More serious complications include chronic malnutrition, osteoporosis, infections and intestinal leaks.

In South Carolina, lawmakers are considering a plan that would mandate that insurers make coverage for weight loss surgery available.

Most weight loss experts recognize the need for obesity surgery in extreme cases where a patient's health is at great risk because of their weight. But as America's obesity problem grows, physicians and insurers worry that some obese patients will pursue weight loss surgery as a quick fix.