does anyone know what happened to the guy fron RI who died having this surgery

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew what happened to the guy that died on the operating table in rhode island last week? I read it in our paper and it was on the news but, It did not say what happened. so if anyone knows i woukld really like to know before i have this surgery susan

I have not heard of this particular story, but found in reading the Memorials section of the board....while the complications can happen with anyone, it appeared to happen more often in those who were in poor conditions to begin with. I read stories of patients whose BMI's were 70 or 80 or even higher having much higher incidences of blood clots and such. I think the overall general pre-operative health and size of the individual have a great role in determining post-operative outcomes. I think it is important to understand that ANESTHESIA alone is a huge risk in surgery and that in most cases, more patients die from anesthesia than from complications of surgery. The larger the person is, the harder it will be to properly administer the anesthetics to maintan sleep during surgery. It is also extremely hard on the respiratory system to come through such trauma to the body at such high weights and BMI's. I have heard that a lot of doctor's will not perform surgery on patient's with a BMI or 60 or greater and with the added risk in the 60+BMI category, I can certianly understand why they would not be willing to take the risk. I would certianly speak with my doctor and discuss what he/she felt the individual risk were in my particular situation if I were you. Good luck!