While M6 is going to broadcast its program Operation Renaissance, a nurse tells on Twitter some of the abuses of bariatric surgery. A personal experience of caregivers, corroborated by many people under the hashtag #PasMaRenaissance.
The program Opération Renaissance is about to be broadcast for the first time on M6, on January 11, 2021. Presented by Karine Le Marchand, it arouses the ire of activists committed to respectful media treatment of fat people. Indeed, according to its detractors, the show presents surgery as THE miracle solution, and conceals its negative effects. The star host and producer denies this, citing possible complications in her promo, as in an interview with the Pure Media site: "For example, there was a witness who had complications even before the operation following an allergic reaction to a product. She almost died and therefore could not be operated." Karine Le Marchand evokes a real disappointment for the patient, who "had however long prepared for such an operation".
On social networks, stories from behind the scenes have multiplied for several days. One nurse, in particular, wanted to share what she saw when the conditions for operations were not met. She specifies that she is not an expert in bariatric surgery, only a caregiver, and that she testifies to what she has seen personally. His testimony, however, shows a facet of bariatric surgery that is hardly ever mentioned in the media.
An operation fraught with consequences, minimal follow-up
"I worked little in the digestive surgery department so my experience is not universal but I find it serious. Fat women, not obese, not in danger, just fat, that the surgeon declares a good candidate for the sleeve …
Enormous files where there is often NO spontaneous request from the patient. Because yes, it is mainly women that I have seen undergo this operation. Mandatory psychological follow-up consisting of a uniform letter saying that they are aware of the seriousness of their disorder (which in the language of psychology means that the patient said the words he wanted to hear) and then to undergo the surgery…
The after? Never mentioned. Pre and post-surgery information sheets that explain in scholarly terms … Nothing at all.
Fee overruns of several thousand euros. And everywhere an IMC, the only criterion on which we justify such a heavy operation. I rarely saw this incident above 40. The weight of these women did not represent a danger justifying an operation. Women to whom no one took care to explain that they never ate more than one yogurt per meal. Women who have not been told about deficiencies, surgical revisions, dysmorphia are going to have their stomachs opened one morning for what?
To have children, to be less breathless, to sleep better …, but above all, so that their weight is no longer their main characteristic and I blame my whole profession for making them believe that losing weight was going to be a rebirth.
The human body is fabulous, it often functions very well on its own and when you gain weight in a really abnormal way, it is linked to factors that bariatric surgery will not cure. Losing weight does not solve trauma, misery, PCOS (polykistic ovary syndrome, editor's note) or others.
But the morning of the operation, I will check that the person is fasting, washed with Betadine and tell him to see you tonight. It's my job and that's why I only work very little in digestive surgery. This operation, specifically, I condemn it in 90% of cases.
Or not enough for them to understand that no, their weight was not what bothered them in their life. "I was happy before", a patient told me in tears. And I told her she would be happy after too. Of course I believe it. I just don't believe the operation has anything to do with his future happiness. A lot of bariatric surgeries fail at 5 years. This means that in 5 years most of my patients will not have the weight they would be fixed. In this calculation we do not take into account the other consequences
And then again, we have to rebuild. Not the person but the body. Because a thin woman with inches of flabby skin from thighs to arms to stomach … We didn't do all this work for something so ugly, did we? "
"Bariatric surgery is not bad in itself"
"So these women, if their weight stabilizes, go back to the operation. With the pain, the drains, the fatigue, the bandages and everything. All this work, all this suffering … And all this stuff that we do not tell you. speak not like the fact that certain treatments accumulate in the adipose tissue and when this melts, you sink behind the wheel, victim of what is called a "release", of Lexomil that the shrink made you take because your weight was depressing you.
Or your body, victim of violence that it cannot manage, decompensates another disease and here you are 25 years old, on morphine for life for a polyarthritis … And these are only a few cases.
Medicine is for healing, weight loss surgery can save or improve someone's eyesight, it is not bad in itself. It is fair, in my opinion, far too often misused towards people who we just want to fit into a mold.
Medicine, surgery, is not seeing an overweight person and encouraging them to have their stomachs butchered after signing a check for 5,000 balls to a surgeon who will no longer take care of this patient in a week .
Overweight, obesity, the disorders that it causes, grossophobia are NOT subjects of reporting, entertainment or curiosity. These are people, experiences, experiences, reflections that the TV wants to exploit #NotMyRenaissance"
Testimony corroborated by others
As of this writing, this Twitter feed has been liked and shared over 30,000 times. They are also numerous to tell on the networks their experiences of operations. Not to condemn those who would like to resort to it, but rather to warn: it is a heavy operation, for which specific conditions must be met. A surfer, who finally stepped back, thus testifies to the speed with which she was able to have an appointment and the very limited reflection time that was given to her. She also questions the scarcity of serious consequences on daily life, the virtual impossibility of eating once the operation has been carried out, in particular.
Finally, she tells how consulting a psychologist enabled her to realize that her weight gain was linked to psychological problems. Which would have involved great suffering if the operation had taken place. According to her, it is essential to be well surrounded, so that the relatives support the decision in an informed way.
A petition has been put online by the association Gras Politique, in order to challenge M6 and have the program withdrawn from the program schedule. The objective: to prevent it from fueling grossophobia in our society, harsh remarks towards fat people but also false hopes.