Reporter: Mike Munro

Producer: Niki Hamilton

JESSICA: Once I used to work in a bakery and a customer came in and I just didn’t serve her adequately apparently so she started abusing me and saying I had more roles than a bakery and etcetera, etcetera.

MIKE MUNRO: At only 25, Jessica Buckley weighs more than most men, 120 kilos.

JESS: In high school I had a very nice nickname of heffles.

MIKE MUNRO: Heffles?

JESSICA: Heffles, yep for years.

MIKE MUNRO: Heffles meaning what?

JESSICA: Um like heffer.

MIKE MUNRO: SHE’S NOT ONLY STRUGGLED WITH WEIGHT AND CRUELTY ALL HER LIFE, BUT ALSO SELF ESTEEM.

JESSICA: Then we hit primary school and I start to look hideous.

MIKE MUNRO: You think you look hideous there do you?

JESSICA: I think that is a horrible photo and Santa must have been horrified to have me on his lap.

Generally I’ll have big meals or I’ll eat absolute and utter crap.

MIKE MUNRO: Jess is now facing type two diabetes and has tried every fad diet known to man.

She now says obesity surgery is her last chance- a plastic lap band strap that will drastically reduce the size of her stomach.

Do you think lap banding is too drastic?

JESSICA: No not at all, not at all. I think it’s a very reasonable option, yeah

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: If we think of my finger as the stomach and the band is around the top of the stomach, as I add the fluid it squeezes around my finger and that gives that feeling of not being hungry.

MIKE MUNRO: Professor Paul O’Brien is the driving force behind lap band surgery in Australia.

The lap band itself costs how much?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: That whole device is about $3,500.

MIKE MUNRO: Is that right? So no wonder the whole operation would be $10,000 to $13,000?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: I’d say 10 to 12 to 13 thousand would be a fair estimate.

MIKE MUNRO: LAP BANDING IS BIG BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA GENERATING $200 MILLION EVERY YEAR.

THIS YEAR ALONE 15,000 AUSTRALIANS WILL HAVE THE PROCEDURE.

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: The real advantage is weight loss. It does achieve substantial weight loss and weight loss is so powerful in terms of healthcare.

The lap band type procedure is so gentle, it’s safe and yet it’s effective.

MIKE MUNRO: YOU’D THINK THERE’D BE NO ARGUMENT - A SURGICAL FIX SAVING LIVES AND SHEDDING KILOS.

BUT THERE’S ANOTHER SIDE – A DARKER SIDE.

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: This is the new heavyweight in the weight loss industry. Everything about it is pitched in the same way that we see the commercial diet industry pitched, the before and after shots, the quick fix promises, that somehow it’s a more natural way to lose weight. And in actual fact, nothing could be further from the truth

MIKE MUNRO: Doctor you’ve been a long time critic of lap banding, have you ever been pressured or warned not to talk about it?

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: Yeah I have and I’ve certainly had a call not to talk to you about this.

MIKE MUNRO: And what was said in the call?

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: Um, like I said, not to speak to Channel 7 about this.

MIKE MUNRO: Now this is your cheque isn’t it?

JESSICA: Yep.

MIKE MUNRO: And how much is that for?

JESSICA: Um, nine and a half.

MIKE MUNRO: A bank cheque for nine and a half thousand dollars which you have to pay before you enter?

JESSICA: Yes.

MIKE MUNRO: They want it up front.

JESSICA: Yeah.

MIKE MUNRO: It’s the day of Jessica’s operation. Once she’s paid and been weighed she’s ready for the procedure.

DOCTOR: We’re gonna look after her at the start of her weight loss journey. She knows the benefits of what we’re going to do today in terms of her life going forward are immense.

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: If you cannot lose the weight by diet and by lifestyle change, by exercise, by behaviour modification then you have to look at surgery if you have a real problem.

Andy: it’s been fantastic. Best decision I’ve ever made in my life.

MIKE MUNRO: Andy Spalding is one of the lap band poster boys. At 25 he weighed in at 159 kilos.

Since his op, he’s lost 43 kilos and now works as a fitness trainer.

ANDY: It’s hard for me to remember the person I was four years ago now. I’ve sort of said goodbye to that person. I wouldn’t have lost the weight, I’d still be four years down the track 159 or more kilos now.

MIKE MUNRO: But not every lap bander comes through unscathed.

MIKE MUNRO: So Justin how bad did it get?

JUSTIN: Blood poisoning, kidney dialysis machine, I had fluid on the lungs and then finally they put me on a life support machine.

MIKE MUNRO: Life support?

JUSTIN: Life support.

MIKE MUNRO: And what were your parents being told at the time?

JUSTIN: It was an hour by hour proposition and to expect the worst.

MIKE MUNRO: When Justin Newell’s weight ballooned to 202 kilos, he decided lap band was the answer. He was lucky to escape with his life.

MIKE MUNRO: How long were you in hospital?

JUSTIN: I was in hospital for 13 weeks all up.

MIKE MUNRO: And you had a number of operations during that time didn't you?

JUSTIN: I had 10 operations in 13 weeks.

MIKE MUNRO: During the delicate surgery, doctors nicked his bowel but released Justin without proper post operative care.

And when you see all of the angry scarring covering Justin’s torso, you realise just how much he and his family have been through.

If everything had worked properly, you would have only just had that little keyhole scar?

JUSTIN: Yep just over here.

MIKE MUNRO: Instead 10 operations here?

JUSTIN: Yep.

MIKE MUNRO: And your tracheotomy on your neck.

JUSTIN: Yes.

MIKE MUNRO: You look as if you've been to Iraq.

JUSTIN: I feel like it.

MIKE MUNRO: So when you see all these scars, as his mother?

MOTHER: It breaks my heart Mike.

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: One of my big concerns is that those people aren’t being adequately screened or if they’re having the surgery they aren’t being adequately supported and followed up after the surgery and to me that spells disaster.

MIKE MUNRO: Dr Samantha Thomas from Monash University is an authority on medical ethics. She’s interviewed more than 200 obese people, many of whom have had lap band surgery and she’s concerned by what she’s learning.

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: There are an increasing number of problems with this surgery. Increased rates of digestive disease, respiratory illness, pre cancerous cells on your oesophagus, mental health problems, many, many different types of problems and most importantly weight regain.

DOCTOR: That’s all fat. All that yellow is fat.

MIKE MUNRO: Jess Buckley is now moments away from having the silicone device placed around her stomach.

MIKE MUNRO: It’s tiny.

DOCTOR: It’s 15 mills, it’s the size of a golf ball, which is the new stomach.

MIKE MUNRO: What do you say to critics who say the lap banding is dangerous because it reduces the size of the stomach to the equivalent of a two year old?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: No it doesn’t reduce the size of the stomach at all.

MIKE MUNRO: Because one surgeon told me that the stomach would now be the size of a golf ball.

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: That’s not true. That simply is not true.

MIKE MUNRO: Professor O’Brien claims the lap band benefits outweigh the risks and in this argument his voice counts.

So are you considering it for teenagers?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: 14 upwards.

MIKE MUNRO: He’s not only performed two and a half thousand lap band operations himself.

So that’s two and a half million dollars just by you?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: If that works out, I haven’t done the sums but I believe you.

MIKE MUNRO: But now his obesity centre based at Monash University is urging the Federal Government to make lap banding vastly more accessible.

Because of the high cost, you’d like to see it become free in the public health system wouldn’t you?

PROFESSOR PAU O’BRIEN: It should be because it gives more health benefits than almost any other treatment in medicine today. We’ve modelled ahead what would happen during a lifetime if a person had weight loss and had their diabetes go into remission. We would save money.

MIKE MUNRO: The sums of money to be made from lap banding are mind boggling. And worldwide, the biggest earner is Allergan, the giant US company who’s logo now neatly wraps around Jessica’s tummy.

MIKE MUNRO: Good marketing I see there by Allergan.

Their ads are so tempting. They’re also big on making donations and one of the major beneficiaries in Australia is the very same independent centre Professor O’Brien is director of.

But that’s a clear conflict of interest because Allergan who make the lap bands are paying your research centre to do research on lap bands. Why wouldn’t you say it’s wonderful?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: They’re paying money to support the research centre, it’s an unrestricted grant, they have no impact on what particular research we do, we simply do the research we think we want to do.

MIKE MUNRO: Clear conflict of interest.

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: Not at all.

MIKE MUNRO: The Centre for Obesity Research and Education, or CORE expects nearly two and a half million dollars in funding this year. It’s own annual report states, ‘Allergan Health is CORE”s major funding source. It also sponsors the basic and advanced courses for surgeons to learn about obesity and the use of lap band.

MIKE MUNRO: And then there’s the hard sell seminars.

If you’re not interested in just the money, why would some of your seminars be advising people to take loans out to get lap band surgery, to even cash in their superannuation?

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: Because obesity is a dreadful disease. Talk to people who have the problem.

MIKE MUNRO: So is being elderly and not having any money Professor when you’ve cashed in your superannuation.

PROFESSOR PAUL O’BRIEN: Well they won’t get to be elderly if they remain obese, it shortens your life expectancy, it creates disease, it reduces your quality of life, they suffer.

DOCTOR SAMANTHA THOMAS: There’s no doubt the people who are obese need the help and support, absolutely no doubt at all. DO they need this kind of intervention? I don’t know I think the jury’s still out.

MIKE MUNRO: Dr Thomas is not against all lap band surgery. Her argument is it can only ever be a last resort because the risks are just too great.

MIKE MUNRO: So what’s your advice to someone contemplating lap band surgery?

JUSTIN: Look into it and think about it.

MIKE MUNRO: Would you ever consider it again?

JUSTIN: Never.

MIKE MUNRO: AS for Jessica Buckley, it’s not eight weeks after the operation and she says she’s dropped 10 kilos.

JESSICA: I do need the lap banding.

MIKE MUNRO: As a crutch?

JESSICA: As a reassurance.

MIKE MUNRO: Not as a crutch?

JESSICA: No, I wouldn’t like to call it as a crutch because I think I’m moving forward, I’m going to be a better person for using it.

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